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The diamond industry's watchdog has agreed to publish statistics for the first time, helping to open up a secretive sector ahead of a Hollywood film some fear could trigger negative publicity, officials said on Wednesday.
The so-called Kimberley Process agreed to a delayed release of annual production and trade data from each member country during closed-door annual meetings in Botswana involving government, industry and civic group participants.
The Kimberley Process was set up six years ago to certify diamonds in order to halt an illicit trade which has financed civil wars and instability.
"We agreed to release [the data] after six months; in other words they will be released mid-year the following year," chairman Kago Moshashane of Botswana said.
The diamond industry, backed by the US Government, had previously opposed the release of the data but dropped its objections this year, delegates said.
"This is a very important development. That information has to be out there so academicians and others can monitor problems and discrepancies," said Corinna Gilfillan, an official of the NGO Global Witness who is attending the meeting as an observer.
Releasing the data, until now available only to members, will allow external players to pinpoint discrepancies, such as when a country exports many more diamonds than it produces, perhaps including smuggled gems.
The industry was probably prodded to become more transparent from nervousness over the new film, Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Gilfillan said. It is due to be released next month.
The sector is worried that consumer demand might be affected by the film, which shows how diamonds helped fuel a brutal, civil conflict in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
"The fact that the film is out there makes the industry vulnerable. It's changed the whole dynamic," Gilfillan said.
A delegate from the European Commission, which will assume the chairmanship of the Kimberley Process next year, hoped more data would become available in the future.
"This is only the starting point. We will try to expand it," said Alyson King, a member of the Kimberley Process statistics working group.
The data in future might be broken down by quarter as well as by year and could include bilateral trade, she added.
"We can analyse to a certain extent our own statistics and identify problems. Of course, there is more expertise out there in the wider world which is why the commission has always supported transparency."
- REUTERS
