On 12-13 October, ALROSA hosted the annual general meeting of the World Diamond Council (WDC) in Moscow.

The WDC represents diamond market participants – companies and industry organizations – in the Kimberley Process (KP). The Council traditionally organizes annual meetings to discuss and form a unified industry position on the KP’s current issues.

The WDC members approved a strategic plan for the coming two years, which includes the cooperation with the KP on the issues regarding the exclusion of conflict diamonds from international trade. The Council will continue its work on improving and fulfilling the demands of regulatory and voluntary systems to control the trade in diamonds. Great attention was paid to such issues as enhancing of transparency, responsible business practices, strengthening of the world diamond market reputation.

The election of the WDC Vice President, who will become the President of the Council in 2016 according to the organization’s bylaws, also took place within the meeting. Andrey Polyakov, ALROSA’s Vice President, was elected to this position.

“ALROSA has been a member of the WDC since its foundation in 2000; it is a great honor for us to host the meeting of the Council representatives in Moscow. The World Diamond Council has significantly contributed to the development of international diamond trade and promotion of the market transparency. Today, the WDC forms the attitude of the whole industry within the cooperation with the Kimberley Process. That gives all the participants a unique opportunity to jointly discuss the ways of further development and to find new forms of cooperation, to form, to protect and to support impeccable reputation of the industry and its product. I’m confident that meaningful dialogue and effective cooperation will enable all of us to secure the bright future of our market”, - Andrey Zharkov, the President of ALROSA, said.