The diamond sector in Antwerp is preparing to apply the newly agreed sanctions against Russian diamonds.
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00:00 The diamond sector in Antwerp is preparing to apply the newly agreed sanctions against
00:06 Russian diamonds. After months of deliberation, the new measures agreed between the G7 and
00:12 EU countries will start working progressively from January the 1st. The first to be hit
00:18 will be rough diamonds, of which Russia is the largest exporter globally with 30 percent
00:23 of the total production by volume. But tracking diamonds isn`t easy.
00:28 This will be a blockchain system where the transformation of a diamond is fully recorded
00:34 and that you can track basically what is going on with the diamonds.
00:38 Every diamond that will be sold in countries that impose the sanctions will have to travel
00:42 first to Antwerp in Belgium to be certified. Through this system, the Belgian city will
00:48 not be as hard hit by the sanctions aimed at punishing Russia.
00:52 So, Antwerp has been always the most important trading hub for diamonds, yes. We were losing
01:02 that with the current system in place, which I think is a really good system. Yeah. Yeah,
01:10 the flows will come back to the European Union and you have an impact.
01:14 Having both the G7 and EU on board was key to ensuring that the system would actually
01:19 hit Russia and the diamonds will not be sold elsewhere. Both buy around 70 percent of diamonds
01:24 globally. In 2021, Russia exported $400 billion worth of diamonds, most of them by a single
01:30 company Arosa.
01:32 Thank you.
01:33 (whooshing)