WFDB Expands Membership Beyond Core Trade

RAPAPORT... The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) has opened its membership to companies outside the core diamond trade, aiming to make the group more relevant and influential.Organizations connected to the diamond industry, such as retailers, can now become associate members, and their representatives can sit on the WFDB executive committee, it said Monday.One of the first such companies is Hong Kong-based jeweler Chow Tai Fook. Its executive director, Albert Chan, has joined the WFDB executive committee as an "observer," the federation reported. The WFDB came into being in 1947 to protect the interests of diamond exchanges and their members. Until now, its membership has solely comprised those companies - mainly diamond manufacturers and dealers - that are part of a bourse and automatically join the federation by belonging to that exchange."I have invited leading companies and organizations in our industry to join the WFDB, and many have already expressed their interest in joining," said WFDB president Yoram Dvash. "I have no doubt that more will come aboard. Now more than ever we must join forces. That's the only way we will be able to succeed." Image: Albert Chan. (Chow Tai Fook)