The Secretary of State for Mineral Resources, Jânio Corrêa Victor, defended on Thursday in Luanda, the need for the member countries of the Kimberley Process to be more united in defending the organization’s main interests, given the current situation in the international diamond market.

Jânio Corrêa Victor was speaking at the opening of the Meeting of the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Review and Reform of the Kimberley Process Certification System, where he reaffirmed the Angolan government’s commitment to the United Nations certification mechanism for conflict prevention, stressing that our country remains committed and hopes that the reforms underway can strengthen the three pillars for reaching the necessary consensus.

He was also concerned about the campaign to discredit natural diamonds and the consequent promotion of synthetic diamonds, which contributes negatively to the development and harmonious growth of the global diamond industry and to reducing the price of diamonds on the international market.

“We have been reflecting on these initiatives in order to better and jointly defend our interests in the face of any trends that may harm the diamond industry, and our voices cannot and should not be ignored, as we are important stakeholders in this industry,” said the secretary of state at the end of his speech with simultaneous translation.

Present for ENDIAMA were the executive director, Domingos Margarida, the acting director of the Social Responsibility, Communication and Institutional Relations Office, Priscila Morais, and the head of the Commercial and Market Studies Department, Yuri Anacleto.

Listen to SERM’s Jânio Corrêa Victor’s speech below: