Diamond Industry to Discuss Crisis, Seek Solutions, at Antwerp Meeting

Members of the diamond industry are meeting in Antwerp on Monday for a day long symposium to discuss the current global crisis and ways to solve some of the problems it poses to the industry. The conference will be preceded by a Sunday meeting of a smaller group of interested participants to work out some early recommendations.

The two days of discussions will bring together the heads of De Beers and Alrosa, manufacturers, dealers, bankers and other interested parties. While details are still not finalized, at publication time the plan for Sunday was to have a series of working group meetings.

The outcome of these Sunday meetings - planned to suggestions for action - will be presented on Monday.

The meetings are open to all members of the industry. Rosy Blue CEO Dilip Mehta suggested the Sunday meeting in an open letter to the industry published earlier this week. Chaim Even-Zohar will moderate both days.