GJEPC Tightens Trade Ties with Shenzhen

RAPAPORT... India's Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC)will open an office in China's Shenzhen Rough Diamond Exchange (SRDE) in aneffort to promote trade between the countries.GJEPC chairman Pramod Agrawal signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with Julius Zheng, vice president of the SRDE, at the IndiaInternational Jewellery Show (IIJS) in Mumbai last week. Under the MoU, the Chinese exchange will participate inIndia Diamond Week in Mumbai in October, while SRDE will host a Gemstone Weekin Shenzhen, Zheng said. "There is a lot of investment by Indian companies in China,"GJEPC executive director Sabyasachi Ray noted Friday. "In diamonds, India andChina complement each other; we are not competing with each other." China, the world's second-largest consumer market for diamonds,sources many of its stones from India, Zheng said. In addition to thatrelationship, China would also welcome Indian diamond suppliers who want to dobusiness in Shenzhen, he added. Image: Kentaro Iemoto