Angola State Diamond Trader Opens Jewelry Store

RAPAPORT... Sodiam, Angola's state diamond company, has opened a jewelry store, its latest attempt to boost the local trade in the mining-focused country.The launch in Luanda, the capital, is a partnership with Hong Kong-based polished manufacturer KGK Diamonds, which opened a cutting factory in Angola last year, Sodiam said Thursday. The organizations marked the store's opening with an exhibition about Angola's diamond industry and a display of jewelry and polished diamonds mined and manufactured in the country."This is another investment that demonstrates Angola's commitment to the sharp development of its diamond-sector value chain, which will be more successful with the more diamonds we are able to extract, cut and integrate...into the international jewelry industry," said Sodiam chairman Eug?(C)nio Bravo da Rosa.Angola, a large producer and home to some of the world's most promising diamond resources, has been working to upgrade the country's diamond industry and attract investors. The southern African state is now home to five cutting factories, including KGK's, and is building a $77 million diamond hub that will contain manufacturing facilities, a training center and a bourse. The nation's diamond industry went through a reform in 2018, enabling a broad range of buyers to purchase rough from its mines. Previously, Sodiam, which sold all the country's rough, could select its clients, resulting in goods often going to politically connected people at below-market prices.The reforms have lifted tax revenues 42% since they came into force, Sodiam said earlier this year.Image: Angola President Jo??o Louren??o at the launch of the new jewelry store in Luanda. (Sodiam)