KP Accelerates CAR's Diamond Exports

RAPAPORT... The Kimberley Process (KP) has agreed to shorten the amountof time it takes to clear diamond exports from the Central African Republic(CAR) to one week.The KP monitoring team that polices CAR's exports made thedecision following the KP intersessional meeting in Antwerp last week, thenation's ambassador to Belgium said Tuesday. Approval of shipments previouslytook two weeks.The global supply-chain watchdog suspended CAR in 2013 afterrebels took over the nation's government, meaning it could not legally exportdiamonds. It readmitted the country in 2016, permitting it to resume shipments fromcertain regions that the KP deemed compliant."I am very satisfied with the progress made at theintersessional meeting," said Leopold Mboli Fatran, CAR's minister of mines andgeology. "The discussions were very fruitful and so were the solutions agreedupon."This year is crucial for CAR's standing within the KP, asthe country is at a "decisive stage in the reform of its diamond sector," theminister added.Earlier this month, CAR appointed Peter Meeus, the formerhead of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre and the Dubai Diamond Exchange, as a governmentadviser as part of its attempts to achieve full compliance with the KP.Image: A soldier from a former CAR rebel group. Credit: Pierre Holtz for UNICEF/hdptcar