India to chair Kimberley Process from January, says Commerce Ministry

India will chair the Kimberley Process (KP), a global initiative to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain, from January next year, the Commerce Ministry said Friday.

KP is a joint initiative of different countries, industry and civil societies to control flow of conflict diamonds, which are used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments in the world.

"India, during its chairmanship will continue with the tradition and aim to support the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and with capacity building, technical assistance and education on valuation, differentiation between natural and lab grown diamonds, importance of legal and formal mining practices," the ministry said in a statement.

India is the founding member of Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) and is actively involved in KP activities to ensure that almost 99 per cent of the diamond trade in the world is conflict free.

"India is at the forefront in addressing the issue of differentiation between natural diamonds and lab grown diamonds and ensure responsible business in this area," it added.

Since August 2013, the KP has 54 participants, representing 81 countries.