India KP Chair concludes Intersessional successfully
Good
exchange and ideas
To
forge the way forward for KP
KP
Plenary Session scheduled
To
be held Delhi in November 2019
India,
as the KP Chair for 2019, successfully hosted the KP Intersessional meeting in
Mumbai. The meeting which started on 17thJune concluded today, 21st June 2019.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) Intersessional Meeting 2019
is an annual mid-year event of KPCS – a tri-partite mechanism that unites
participating governments, diamond industry and civil society. KPCS is an
international mechanism mandated by UN to reduce the flow of conflict diamonds
which were being used to finance wars against legitimate governments.
Mr.
Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi, KP Chair and Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT)
hosted and addressed over 200KP delegates from 82 countries including the US,
Russian Federation, European Union, Canada, China, Israel, Australia, UAE, and
several producing countries from Africa– Sierra Leone, DR Congo, Angola, Ghana,
Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Botswana, Cameroon, Republic of Congo,
Eswatini, Gabon, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Namibia, South Africa, Togo&
Lesotho. The Kimberley Process Chairmanship 2019 India event was organized by
the Union Ministry of Commerce &
Industry, Government of India; and
co-organised by Gem &Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC).
In
his concluding speech, Mr. Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi, KP Chair (India) and DGFT,
said, “There has been a good exchange and ideas, discussions and deliberations,
listening & learning, debates, dialogues in the true KP tradition of
productive sharing of ideas to forge the way forward for KP.
We
are grateful to the global diamond community and the representatives of the
civil society coalition for their presence and active participation. The
knowledge, experience and expertise that each one of you brings to the table is
phenomenal and so is your collective effort. The commitment and contribution to
usher in transformational change has been of the highest order.”
Mr.
Chaturvedi added, “The highlights of this Intersessional were the special
forums on Diamond Terminology and ’Artisanal Mining – Small Steps to Larger Outcomes’.
The GemFair session showcased transparency to empower local communities. There
were presentations on Indian Government’s Common Facility Centres initiative,
which enabled pooling of resources for small and medium jewellery enterprises.
There
were insightful learnings in the special forums such as the chain of custody by
Mumbai’s Dabbawalas and trusted delivery as exemplified by the Angadias. There
were presentations on the mapping of the workforce through Parichay ID card and
taking care of them through Swathya-Rathna health insurance scheme.”
Mr.
Stephane Fischler (President, World Diamond Council) and Mr. Shamiso Mtisi
(Coordinator of the KP Civil Society Coalition) also addressed the closing
session. Ms. Rupa Dutta, Economic Advisor, Union Ministry of Commerce &
Industry, Government of India, proposed the vote of thanks.
The
KP session 2019 observed progress in many areas including deepening ongoing
discussions on the scope, finalization of Terms of Reference for Permanent
Secretariat, draft Administrative Decision (AD) on Peer Review Mechanism,
reconciliation guidance document and capturing of data for Artisanal Mining,
new independent observer, more clear directions for MDTF and Consolidation of
Core Document. KP delegates would again meet in New Delhi for the Plenary
Session in November 2019.
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