IDE President Praises Russian Deal
June 30, 05 by Edahn Golan & Albert Robinson
New Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) President Avi Paz believes a new arrangement with Russia will provide significant new levels of rough stones for local manufacturers, and says he is “disappointed” with DTC’s Gareth Penny. The full interview will be published next week.
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"Direct DTC supply only 18%
of total rough diamond imports."
IDE president Avi Paz
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In an interview with IDEX Online, Paz says Alrosa expects to export to Israel $800 million worth of rough, a $200 million addition to the $600 million in exports the Russians say were exported to Israel last year (according to Israel’s Diamond Controller Shmuel Mordechai imports from Russia totaled $400 million). The promise was made earlier this week to Israeli Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Ehud Olmert during his visit to Moscow.
Paz, who was elected in April, said one of the other ways he hoped to increase the amount of rough reaching Israel would be by requesting the DTC to raise the amount it sells to Israel.
To that end, he will be traveling to London on July 24 for a one-on-one meeting with DTC Managing Director Gareth Penny where he said he would express his "disappointment" with the DTC for not increasing the number of Israeli Sightholders.
"We were very disappointed with the DTC for not raising the number of Sightholders," Paz said. "The DTC's rough supplies to Israel account for just 18 percent of the country's rough imports."
Israeli manufacturers would also benefit from a commitment by Lazare Kaplan International who, through a new Israeli partnership with the Israeli Lupatin office, will offer $100 million in diamonds, Paz said.
Paz, who replaced Shmuel Schnitzer, said increasing Israel's polished manufacturing capacity was another goal he had set for his presidency. "Israel can't compete on the polishing of smaller, cheaper goods but the cost of labor is a far less significant factor where larger stones are concerned. We have the workers with the experience and skills to get the best out of these stones."
Paz said he was also making efforts to encourage foreign diamond companies to transfer their operations to Israel. To this end, the exchange has set up a committee that would help dealers with the bureaucratic aspect of a move.
The new IDE president also spoke about the new anti-money laundering laws. “We will of course meet all the requirements set by the new American law,” he said, adding that there has been an exchange of letters with the Israeli anti-money laundering authorities.
The full interview will appear next week on IDEX Online.
