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ALROSA, Israel Sign Cooperation Agreement
Feb 9, 2015 6:41 AM
By Avi Krawitz
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RAPAPORT... ALROSA, Russia’s largest diamond miner, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Israel's diamond industry to cooperate on furthering their interests in the diamond market. The agreement was signed at the opening of the International Diamond Week taking place in Ramat Gan this week, while a ceremony marking the occasion took place on Monday afternoon at the residence of Israel President Reuven Rivlin.
The agreement was signed by Shmuel Schnitzer, president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) and Andrey Polyakov, the vice president of ALROSA (pictured).
Schnitzer explained that the agreement extends beyond rough supply to encompass the exchange of expertise, information sharing on polished diamond identification and grading, mutual business promotion on international markets and joint project development in the areas of corporate responsibility, education and new technologies for diamond cutting and polishing.
Polyakov added that forging such partnerships is essential given the challenges facing the industry. “The agreement is not only about the amount of rough supply because the modern diamond business is very tough,” he said. “We need to promote diamonds as a symbol of luxury, we need to recognize of the threat of synthetics as the new reality for our business. We need to cooperate on issues such as scientific research and how to attract the new generation to our business.”
ALROSA has signed similar agreements with the diamond industries in India and Belgium and recently announced its list of long-term clients. Polyakov said that ALROSA’s annual supply to Israel exceeds $500 million, having increased by about 30 percent since 2010.
Pictured: Shmuel Schnitzer, the president of the Israel Diamond Exchange (left) and Andrey Polyakov, the vice president of ALROSA.
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Tags:
Alrosa, Avi Krawitz, Israel, Reuven Rivlin, Schnitzer
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