It was in 1999 when Stephane Fischler introduced me to Ambassador Robert Fowler, Canada’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. As his country’s delegate to the UN Security Council, he had been issuing reports on the violation of UN-imposed sanctions by the UNITA rebel movement in Angola.
Edward Asscher is the new President of the World Diamond Council (WDC), the international organization that is charged with leading the industry’s effort to prevent conflict diamonds from entering the jewelry supply chain and with representing it in the tripartite Kimberley Process coalition. F
Goodbye and thank you for having provided me with the opportunity to serve and give back to our industry and beyond. It is an industry I feel extraordinarily privileged to be involved in, handling the most extraordinary mineral I know. Diamonds evoke powerful emotions in almost every single individual who owns or aspires to own them.
June had been scheduled to be a hectic travel period for both the WDC and KP. Then the COVID-19 global pandemic struck.
More than four months into the COVID-19 crisis, it is difficult and most probably premature to gauge the impact of the global epidemic on the rough diamond industry and trade, and more specifically on the artisanal mining sector, where information is scarce and largely anecdotal.
The time to act is now. The reality is that we are not doing enough. In fact, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap report, it will take 257 years to close the economic gender gap.
What was once known as Ashaktashram Hospital is today the Smt Rasilaben Sevantilal Shah Venus Hospital, named for the spouse of the founder of one of India’s largest diamond companies, Venus Jewel.
In one short month the world has changed in very dramatic ways. In mid-February I was enjoying some golf in the warmer climate of the southern U.S. There was very little talk of even the seasonal flu, let alone COVID-19, although my 21-year-old son managed to get Influenza B from his college roommates.
After 32 years of practically residing in airports around the world and earning a PhD in business lounges, I am finally homebound. Yes, not by choice and I wish under different circumstances, but that’s life.
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