"We are going to have a parallel trading arrangement because we want to attract traders and independent diamond producers," Tomabale said. "Botswana diamonds should be a catalyst. I believe De Beers has also come around.

"We are trying to create traffic in Botswana. If we are trading the volumes, people should be able to come to Botswana to trade diamonds here. Dubai is exporting $3 billion of diamonds, about the same as ourselves, but they have no (diamond) mines," he said.

In an interview on the sidelines of the conference, Charles Wyndham, a diamond industry analyst with WWW International Diamond Consultants, said the parallel trading platform would be of benefit to Botswana by creating opportunities for additional money and citizen participation.

Wyndham said post the global crisis, there was a need for the diamond industry to be prepared for structural changes required for it to benefit all players. He said the parallel trading market that Botswana planned to launch was a good start.

"Botswana is the largest producer of rough in the world, but who knows that at the moment?" he wondered. "I find that strange and in my opinion, there is a missed opportunity which Botswana and others should change."

He said the impact of the global downturn on the diamond industry was not going to be "solved in two minutes", hence the first step was for the industry to start treating diamonds as a commodity. "Diamond is a commodity and it should be treated as such so that everyone can start making money and grow the cake," Wyndham said.

He called for transparency in the market for both rough and polished diamonds as another imperative. "I am a firm believer in markets," he said.  "Let the market determine the prices and the opportunities.It should not be a closed shop like what is happening now."

Wyndham said De Beers, which now controls about 40 percent of the market from about 80 percent in previous years, represents control which in the past might have been of a benefit to the industry.

"The industry has not benefited from the boom because the current system lacks transparency, which makes it less able to handle the downturn," he said, adding that he is not against De Beers making money, but if diamonds were sold at the maximum price, the industry would benefit more players.

"If prices are determined by the market, Debswana would make more money than during boom times, as would De Beers and the Government of Botswana," Wyndham said.The government officially launched the Botswana Diamond Hub in April last year with the goal of creating a local long-term multi-functional diamond industry ahead of an inevitable fall in revenues for its diamond-based economy.