The agreements entered into by De Beers and the government of Botswana in May 2006 and those between De Beers and the Government of Namibia in January 2007 give due regard to the importance of a mutually beneficial arrangement and nothing embodied in these arrangements undermines this principle. On the contrary the Government of Namibia endorses fully the concept of aggregating regional production in Botswana while the Government of Botswana respects fully the right for a portion of the Namdeb production to be retained for local cutting and polishing in Namibia.
An important feature of these latest agreements therefore is the extension of the joint venture arrangements from mining operations to marketing activities in both countries. The result is that the ownership and corporate structures of the entities responsible for sorting and valuing production in both countries have changed. Two new companies owned 50/50 between De Beers and the two governments have been formed to carry out the sorting and valuing of the production from the respective operations. These new structures enable the partner nations to address their development aspirations as well as permitting efficiencies and more value-add for the operating entities. In addition, the agreements between De Beers and its partners to sell the production from these mines provide for diamond sales to local cutting and polishing factories. De Beers supports fully the wishes of its partners to use the diamond resources to promote economic development and to avail local supply to companies with ability to add value to rough product.
