What does Botswana hope toachieve from this KP session?
"We have been members of [the] Kimberley Process ever since its inception in 2000. Knowing what the Kimberley Process is all about, we've always been complying and making sure that we use our diamonds for development, as the KP scheme intends to achieve. "Botswana recently went into diamond beneficiation, it's been three years now, we added licenses to 16 sightholders. So now, with the establishment of the diamond beneficiation industry, that is streaming activities like diamond cutting and polishing, and other areas we intend to move into, we want to update ourselves and (apply) the latest changes. As you know, things are always dynamic, there are always changes here and there, and we've come to update ourselves, and later on we can invite the Kimberley Process to come and review our industry."
Are you due for a review?
"We have submitted a request for a second review. We've had a first one in 2003. We submitted a request for a second review, so it could come anytime in the last quarter of this year or the first quarter of 2011. This review would be to see how we are doing. We have been selling our rough diamonds to DTC, but now we have added another dimension, which is the cutting and polishing industry, so we want to see how we are doing with this new addition."
How has the global financial crisis affected your industry and the beneficiation?
"It affected up quite a lot. We really lost a year, I would say. As you may know, the 16 sightholders were given a three-year contract, and within those three years, we lost a year to the recession, because the industry really suffered - 2008 was a very bad year, towards the last quarter, and then the first two quarters of 2009. We are still on the road to recovery and a great deal of time was lost.
"We are seeing very positive signs of recovery... We are almost as we were before the recession. We are not there yet, but rough prices have been favourable and we are doing better.
