Zimbabwe will chair the African Diamond Producers Association in 2022 following elections held by the organisation last week, Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said on Tuesday.
Briefing journalists at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, Mutsvangwa said Zimbabwe would use its tenure to present a united African voice on international matters involving the diamond trade.
She said Zimbabwe would also use its time at the helm of the ADPA to push for information-sharing among member states and the formulation of strategies to improve Africa’s diamond industry.
The ADPA is a 13-member intergovernmental organisation that seeks to strengthen the level of influence of African diamond-producing countries on the world diamond market.
The Angola-based organisation was formed in November 2006 as a continental branch of the African Diamond Council, Africa’s supreme diamond governing body.
It implements policies, strategies and laws that assist the generation of diamond profits from foreign diamond mining companies to its member states.
The association comprises Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo and Zimbabwe.
JN/APA