The G7 group of industrialised nations are piling pressure on Botswana in effort to convince the Southern African nation to support a move to ban diamonds mined in Russia as well as have diamonds mined in Botswana to be certified in Belgium. This follows Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is understood that Botswana is rejecting demands to change the way she deals with her diamonds.
Delegates from United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, United States of America, and European Union were in the country recently calling for transparency on diamonds. Following the delegation’s meeting with various stakeholders their Ambassadors wrote an Op-ed (a piece of writing expressing personal opinion).
The Ambassadors stated in the Op-ed titled “New Natural Diamond Prosperity for Botswana by Removing the Blemish of Russian” that diamonds tell stories of love, inspiration, and development. Botswana’s incredible diamonds for development story already inspires consumers in Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States when they ask about the
provenance of their diamonds. With its legacy of good governance and democracy, Botswana diamonds can give consumers confidence their special purchases fund development, and not destruction.
“From the outset of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the G7 and partners have stood together to condemn Russia’s violation of the UN Charter and the impact of Russia’s war on the rest of the world. We remain united in our efforts to reduce the revenues Russia can access to finance its illegal aggression. Our leaders have asked us to continue to impose coordinated sanctions and other economic actions to achieve this,” they said.
The Ambassadors said the G7 technical expert team is grateful for Botswana’s invitation to learn first-hand from the deep insights and expertise of Botswana and her leaders on this important topic, knowing that they are equally committed to the shared goal of establishing the provenance of diamonds to protect the reputation of the natural diamond industry and the economies of diamond
producing countries.
“We are grateful for Botswana’s commitment to continue this dialogue to ensure that the
aspirations of Botswana to derive more value from beneficiation activities are not negatively impacted by these measures. Indeed, we hope that streamlined access to G7 markets for Botswana exports will strengthen the country’s important efforts to ensure more diamonds are beneficiated here and more diamond industry jobs are created for Batswana,” they said.
The Ambassadors said “While Botswana has not banned Russian diamonds, we want to continue consultations and build partnership between Botswana and the G7 for a thriving, responsible global diamond market.”
They added that “As the world’s leading responsible natural diamond producer, Botswana has the opportunity to better distinguish the provenance of its diamonds on the global market, introduce the world to cutting-edge traceability technologies (including some already being perfected in Botswana), and celebrate the Botswana diamonds-for-development story.”
The diplomatic missions representing the G7 countries are as follows; High Commission of Canada to Botswana, ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Botswana, Petra Pereyra, ambassador of France to Botswana, Olivier Brochenin, ambassador of Germany to Botswana, Margit Hellwig-Botte, ambassador of Italy to Botswana, Gianni Bardini, Ohmori Setsuo, ambassador of Japan to Botswana, Ohmori Setsuo, Ambassador of the United States to Botswana, Howard Vranken, and British High Commissioner to Botswana Sian Price.
