President Hage Geingob says Namibia will support Botswana’s bid to host a permanent new headquarters and secretariat for the Kimberley Process, a global organization that seeks to combat trade of diamonds from conflict areas.
“We support Botswana’s bid to host the Secretariat of the Kimberley Process,” Geingob told a Namibia and Botswana inaugural bi-national commission (BNC) in Gaborone on Friday.
The pronouncement boosts Botswana’s plan to ensure that the country, which is the world’s second-largest diamond producer, plays a more prominent role in the diamond industry as Russia, the world’s leading producer, faces international sanctions for the Ukraine conflict.
Botswana, which took over the rotating chairmanship of the Kimberley Process plenary from Russia after its last session in November, will go up against China and Austria.
The Kimberley Process was initiated in 2003 by governments, civil rights groups, and industry players to increase transparency and try to eliminate trade in so-called “blood diamonds.”
While it has established a mechanism to trace the origin of the stones, which has curtailed the illicit trade, the United States, and groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have called for it to have a broader mandate and address more wide-ranging issues such as human rights abuses.
Botswana is the world’s top diamond producer in terms of value and second in terms of volume behind Russia.
Other southern African countries that produce diamonds are South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Eswatini.
Most of Botswana’s gems are mined by Debswana, a joint venture between the government and Anglo-American Plc unit De Beers under a 10-year diamond-sales agreement which expired in 2020 but was extended until June this year.
Botswana relies on diamonds to generate 90% of its exports. Debswana sold 38.1 billion pula ($3.3 billion) of rough diamonds last year, the most since 2016 and almost 61% more than in 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic affected auctions and retail sales.
