Russia seeks to legalize Central African Republic diamond market

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (PRIME) -- The volume of the Central African Republic’s (CAR) illegal diamond mining exceeds 300,000 carats annually, while sanctions against the country only aggravate the situation, that’s why Russia will seek full legalization of the CAR’s diamond market as the 2020 chair of the Kimberley Process, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev told PRIME in an interview released Tuesday.

CAR’s official diamond production used to amount to 350,000 carats per year before the sanctions were imposed in 2013, Moiseyev said. “Now, the official figure is 39,000 carats. These are diamonds passing through 'green areas.' A question arises – what happened to the rest? We suspect that production still stands at the pre-sanctions level. So, almost all this volume, or the difference between 350,000 and 39,000 carats, enters global markets as contraband and is not in any way accounted by the Kimberley Process, while criminals receive the secured profit,” Moiseyev said.

In 2013, a ban on trade of diamonds produced in the CAR was introduced. The ban was partially lifted later, and the country is now divided into so-called green areas, from where export is allowed, and red areas in the CAR’s north and east, controlled by anti-governmental armed groups, where the ban is still active.

The Kimberley Process is an international trade initiative, established in 2000 and aimed at regulating rough diamond trade through preventing conflict diamond flow. It unites over 80 countries across the globe.

Russia plans to expand the membership of the Kimberley Process by including all African states into it, Moiseyev also said. At present, such countries as Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and many others are still not members of the association, he added.

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