Dubai initiative streamlines southern Africa’s diamond exports
THE United Arab Emirates has outstripped Belgium as the end destination for southern Africa’s precious stones – especially diamonds. The trade has increased by 240% in the last decade. Last year rough diamonds worth $4 billion (R73bn) were imported into the UAE from southern Africa.
Making sure that the UAE continues to be the largest trading hub for uncut – and polished – diamonds will be a key imperative for the World Logistics Passport (WLP), the world’s first-ever freight and logistics loyalty network programme.
“Last year we became the number one diamond trading hub in the world, overtaking Antwerp for the first time, largely due to the new silk road initiative that brings diamonds from Africa through Dubai to the mass markets of China, India and the USA,” said Martin Leake, the special adviser to the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre.
Leake was speaking at the Johannesburg briefing session for the WLP, where the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GDDA) became the 11th South African member to join the programme. Established in 2020 by the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the UAE, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the WLP initiative seeks to create a global network of partners and members to make the shipping of freight by sea, air or land more effective, cheaper and less time consuming.
Founded on sea routes and incorporating air, road and rail, the WLP sets out to make international trade more efficient, more cost effective and quicker than current global logistic arrangements allow. South Africa was the second hub to be registered after the launch in 2020 with 10 partners joining before the GGDA this week, among them Trade and Investment
KZN, the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone,
Dube Tradeport Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the South African United Business Confederation, SAAFF and the SME Chamber of Commerce.
The WLP African footprint now includes hubs in five other African countries: Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal, while South Africa offers gateways into Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Guinea, Mali, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Cutting and polishing the diamonds brings with it its own logistical problems leading to Dubai to implement its own gemmological laboratory to certify the diamonds quickly en route to the cutting and polishing centres in India, far quicker than had they been sent to Belgium.
The WLP programme, said Leake, would be transformational in growing this trade by cutting costs and the time involved in getting the diamonds from source to end user, by dealing with logistical bottlenecks.
The purpose of the WLP, explained WLP general manager Mahmood Al Bastaki, is to eradicate industry freight and trade bottlenecks wherever they occur to increase trade and stimulate the flow of cargo with a direct benefit to the economies where the trade takes place.
Since the implementation of the
WLP, DP World and Emirates Sky Cargo together have boosted trade to Dubai by $2bn, said WLP head Abdulrahman Bin Haider. The WLP has found that participants in the programme have seen trade boosted by 40% and enjoyed savings of up to 48 hours per shipment and 52% of costs in some instances.
The biggest drawcard, says Bin Haider, is the potential for South Africa.