(IDEX Online) – KP Chair Ahmed Bin Sulayem has met the President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, for talks on compliance, border controls and legitimization in rough diamond trade.

The discussions were held as part of Bin Sulayem’s ‘Africa Initiative’.

“Burkina Faso, despite being a non-diamond producing nation, has developed a reputation for its willingness to address the illicit trade across a number of commodities, including rough diamonds,” the KP Chair said.

“Compliance protocols, border controls and security were part of the talks between the two leaders, and Kabore expressed his readiness to take all necessary steps in their bid towards legitimacy in this particular area of focus.

“It’s important to show tangible support for developing nations, especially when they have expressed a strong desire to embrace growth, while at the same time researching how they might implement better compliance protocols to international standards; Burkina Faso is one of those nations,” said Bin Sulayem.

President Kabore remarked that his country is determined to improve the lives of its people in the future. “What we do today” he said, “will have a long lasting impact on how the country and its people will live in the future. We welcome new initiatives, and we are prepared to look deeply into how organisations, such as the Kimberley Process, can help us legitimise the trade in rough diamonds.” 

The President went on to say that creating better infrastructure to implement and monitor trade, using KP mandates is something of great interest. Burkina Faso is about to embark on research into rough diamond trading and will consider the possibility of applying for membership of the Kimberly Process.

“Our meeting with the President was most encouraging – and the dialogue which began today has set the scene for on-going discussions about the Kimberley Process mandates and how to embrace them”, added Bin Sulayem.