India to host Kimberley Process inter-sessional meeting next week

More than 300 delegates will participate in the inter-sessional meeting of Kimberley Process being hosted by India from June 17 to 21 in Mumbai, the government said on Friday.

The Kimberley Process is a commitment to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain. Conflict diamonds means rough diamonds used by rebel movements or their allies to finance conflict aimed at undermining legitimate governments.

Kimberly Process members are responsible for stemming 99.8 per cent of the global production of conflict diamonds.

India is one of the founder members of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme and is the Chair of Kimberley Process for 2019 with the Russian Federation as Vice Chair.

Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi, head of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, has been designated as Kimberley Process Chair 2019 and Rupa Dutta, Economic Adviser at the Department of Commerce, is India's Kimberly Process focal point, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Besides meetings of different working groups and committees of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), two special forums on diamond terminology and artisanal mining titled 'Small Steps to Larger Outcomes' will be held during the inter-sessional.

At present, KPCS has 55 members representing 82 countries including the European Union with 28 members.