The Kimberley Process Plenary kicked off to a robust start yesterday with ministry delegates from from Zimbabwe, Ghana, Sierrra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Guinea, Angola and other mining economies attending in full force. A video presentation on the work carried out by the KP chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem got huge applauds from the industry as he told the story of his experiences of travelling to over 15 mining economies and how his tenure has benefited mining economies such as Sierra Leone, CAR etc to work under KP guidelines. The inaugural session also saw Peter Meus, President Dubai Diamond Exchange, talking on the importance of valuation of diamonds at the source that will have a positive effect on the artisanal miners in various economies.

A panel discussion on Synthetic Diamonds combined with presentations got the participants talking about the threat posed by synthetic diamonds and the house saw fruitful discussions on thwarting the synthetic effect on Natural Diamonds. Apart from Mining economies the KP Plenary also is attended by delegates from WFDB, WDC, OECD, DDI etc.