NEW DELHI, Nov 19: India has been elected as the vice chair for 2018 and chair for 2019 of Kimberly Process (KP) Certificate Scheme, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) today said.
The announcement was made at the recently held KP Plenary Meeting in Dubai, it said in a statement.
KP is a joint initiative of the governments, industry and civil societies to stem flow of conflict diamonds. These are the rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.
India is founder member of Kimberley Scheme of United Nations for import/export of rough diamonds to ensure that conflict diamonds are not traded. The scheme is administered through the Department of Commerce.
No import or export of rough diamonds shall be permitted unless the shipment is accompanied by this certificate required under the procedure specified by the GJEPC.
The chair of this international body is by rotation among its members.
GJEPC Chairman Praveenshankar Pandya said: “India has been elected as the vice chair for 2018 and chair for 2019 of KPCS”.
Quoting joint Secretary in the department of commerce Manoj Dwivedi, it said the vice chair will help India in preparing to take bigger responsibility of the chair seamlessly. (PTI)
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