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De Beers Taking Town Hall Meeting to Producing Countries

Following the success of the town hall meetings held earlier this year in Antwerp, Ramat Gan and Mumbai, two more such meetings are set to take place, in Gaborone and Johannesburg, later this month.

As in the previous meetings, De Beers Managing Director Gareth Penny will make presentations on the state of the diamond industry, followed by an open question and answer session.

The meetings are open to everybody in the industry and provide an opportunity for free and frank discussion on issues affecting the diamond industry.

In Botswana, Penny will be joined during the Q&A session by Minister Kedikilwe, Minister of Minerals Energy & Water Resources; Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Minerals Energy & Water Resources Gabaake Gabaake; Diamond Trading Company (DTC) Managing Director Varda Shine; and Debswana Managing Director Blackie Marole. Shine will join Penny at the Q&A session in South Africa.

The first three diamond town hall meetings were received very positively by the market. Traders said the events created a good sense of confidence, not only in the future of the industry but also in the role the leading rough diamond supplier will play in it.

During his town hall presentations, Penny expressed the company's confidence in the industry's prospects and answered questions about possible price hikes.

Shine stated that the industry needs to consider different ways to operate in order to succeed.

The Gaborone diamond town hall meeting, moderated by Chaim Even-Zohar, will be held on November 24 at 5 pm at the Grand Palm Hotel, hosted by the Botswana Diamond Manufacturers Association. The Johannesburg meeting will be held on the following day, November 25 at 4.30 pm at The Pyramid Conference Centre in Johannesburg, hosted by the Diamond Council of South Africa.