AT THE HEART OF ROUGH DIAMONDS
KP Secretariat Office to be based in Bots
In what is being hailed a huge coup for the country, following last month’s Kimberley Process (KP) meeting in Gaborone, it has been confirmed the institute’s first ever Secretariat Office will be based in Botswana.
Beating off strong bids from China and Austria, the office is expected to be open by January 2024 and will require an estimated P10 million to build.
Diamond Hub Coordinator, Jacob Thamage is adamant this is hugely significant and continues the country’s efforts to have diamond operations located in Botswana.
“Botswana’s prudent and transparent management of its resources speaks for itself. Above that we came up with a campaign strategy which involved lobbying competitors for support and these yielded results with all of them rallying behind Botswana’s bid at the end. As a country we have been able to engage in conflictfree rough diamonds trade in the past because of the Kimberley Process so having a permanent office in Botswana will make us the centre of decision making for the global rough diamond trade,” highlighted Thamage.
He pointed out this continues the work started in 2012, when a deal was struck between Botswana and De Beers to have rough diamond sorting and valuing operations moved from United Kingdom to Gaborone.
The aim was to ensure Bots, the world’s largest diamond producer by value and the second largest by volume, benefits further from an expanded beneficiation process.
Formally established in 2003, KP is a multilateral trade regime that unites 85 countries and seeks to prevent the flow of conflict dia
monds (rough diamonds used to finance wars against governments) around the world.
In this time, Botswana has twice served as chair - the latest term ending this year. The chair oversees the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), under which states implement safeguards on shipments of rough diamond and certify them as conflict free.
“There were several requirements that we needed to fulfill as country [to be awarded the Secretariat Office] which included current capability and experience in hosting secretariats of international organisations, demonstration of the ability to ensure information security including online data, commitment to upholding neutrality and independent and demonstration of expertise in multi stakeholder engagement, management and facilitation,” added Thamagae.