Ghanaian Rough Clears Indian Customs

For the first time in 15 years, a consignment of rough arrived in India directly from a mining country in West Africa. The consignment has cleared customs with full Kimberley Process approvals and is now in the processing pipeline.

The shipment, worth more than $150,000, was the fruit of negotiations between an Indian delegation of diamantaires led by a senior ministry official and state mining authorities in Ghana. The goods were shipped as separate parcels consigned directly to various members of the delegation.

It is expected that in the future, more and more Indian diamantaires will visit Ghana and directly import rough diamonds for their own cutting and polishing needs.

Kaushik Mehta, a diamond dealer from Mumbai and a former chairman of The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, who led the delegation, said that more than anything else, the delegation opened the doors to wider and more free commercial links between the diamond industries of the two countries. The delegation, he said, disseminated information about India and the Indian gem and jewellery industry and cleared up many misconceptions.

Mr. Mehta said that the Indian industry had made a similar effort with Canada and would now focus on Angola.