Headquarters | Antwerp, Belgium |
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Key people | Ari Epstein (CEO) till April 11, 2024 |
Website | www.awdc.be |
The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) is a public/private corporation, officially representing and coordinating the Antwerp diamond sector. It is located in the heart of Antwerp in the Hoveniersstraat. The chief executive officer of AWDC was Ari Epstein. He resigned in April 2024. [1] The Diamond office facilitates the import and export of diamonds in and out of Antwerp. This is primarily done through marketing campaigns, services, conferences, trade fairs, economics missions, and various other ways. [2] The World Diamond Center is home to all of the major diamond mining companies, which discover diamonds for over 1,800 individual diamond dealers across the globe. Other groups that aid in development, protection, and processing of these diamonds include diamond banks, insurance brokers, forwarders, best polishers, and researchers. It is acknowledged as the diamond capital of the world. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
In October 1973, the AWDC was established as the Hoge Raad voor Diamant (HRD), or Diamond High Council, by the Belgian government and diamond industry representatives. Their mission was to protect and promote the diamond sector in Belgium. It also had a commercial branch to issue certificates. In 2007, the Diamond High Council was restructured and split up in two different enterprises. One of them, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), a private foundation, is responsible for the representation of the collective interests of the Belgian diamond industry domestically and abroad. It also promotes Antwerp as the global capital of the diamond industry. The second, HRD Antwerp, a completely independent subsidiary of AWDC, is a commercial organization with six different branches: Diamond Lab, Precious Stones Lab, Research, Education, Graduates Club and Equipment. [2] [10]
The Diamond Office is a government authorized service providing body, established in 1945, enabling the post-war diamond industry to quickly pick up again. The Diamond Office uses a unique model for import and export procedures: one-stop import & export clearing. [2] [11]
The economy of Israel is a highly developed free-market economy. The prosperity of Israel's advanced economy allows the country to have a sophisticated welfare state, a powerful modern military said to possess a nuclear-weapons capability with a full nuclear triad, modern infrastructure rivaling many Western countries, and a high-technology sector competitively on par with Silicon Valley. It has the second-largest number of startup companies in the world after the United States, and the third-largest number of NASDAQ-listed companies after the U.S. and China. American companies, such as Intel, Microsoft, and Apple, built their first overseas research and development facilities in Israel. More than 400 high-tech multi-national corporations, such as IBM, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Cisco Systems, Facebook and Motorola have opened R&D centers throughout the country.
A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry, commerce, and trade have existed. In 16th-century Europe, two different terms for merchants emerged: meerseniers referred to local traders and koopman referred to merchants who operated on a global stage, importing and exporting goods over vast distances and offering added-value services such as credit and finance.
The economy of Seychelles is based on fishing, tourism, processing of coconuts and vanilla, coir rope, boat building, printing, furniture and beverages. Agricultural products include cinnamon, sweet potatoes, cassava (tapioca), bananas, poultry and tuna.
The economy of Sierra Leone is $4.082 billion by gross domestic product as of 2018. Since the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2002, the economy is gradually recovering with a gross domestic product growth rate between 4 and 7%. In 2008 it in PPP ranked between 147th by World Bank, and 153rd by CIA, largest in the world.
The economy of Belgium is a highly developed, high-income, mixed economy.
Turnhout is a Belgian municipality and city located in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the city of Turnhout proper. In 2021, its population was 45,874. The total area is 56.06 km2 (21.64 sq mi). The agglomeration is much more populous, with 81,473 inhabitants. It is known for its playing card industry, and houses the head office of the world's largest manufacturer of playing cards, Cartamundi. Turnhout is also the capital of the administrative district with the same name. The city council often promotes the city as "the capital of the Kempen area". This designation is entirely unofficial, since the Kempen area is far larger than the Turnhout district and does not form an administrative unit.
The Diamond industry of Israel is an important world player in producing cut diamonds for wholesale. In 2010, Israel became the chair of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme. As of 2016, cut diamonds constituted 23.2% of Israel's total exports and they were the country's biggest export product, amounting to 12% of the world's production.
The credit for introducing Jainism to the West goes to a German scholar, Hermann Jacobi, who translated some Jain literature and published it in the series 'Sacred Books of East' in 1884. In Europe, the largest Jain populations are in Britain, with a population of about 25,000.
The Mining industry of Ghana accounts for 5% of the country's GDP and minerals make up 37% of total exports. Gold contributes over 90% of the total mineral exports. Thus, the main focus of Ghana's mining and minerals development industry remains focused on gold. Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, producing 80.5 t in 2008. Ghana is also a major producer of bauxite, manganese and diamonds. Ghana has 20 large-scale mining companies producing gold, diamonds, bauxite and manganese; over 300 registered small scale mining groups; and 90 mine support service companies. Other mineral commodities produced in the country are natural gas, petroleum, salt, and silver.
Armenians in Belgium are citizens of Belgium of Armenian ancestry. The exact number of Armenians in the country is unknown, but is unofficially estimated to be about 40,000.
The Namibia Diamond Trading Company (NDTC) is a 50/50 joint venture between the Republic of Namibia and the DTC; the mining and sorting arm of De Beers. Namibia is a known source for gem quality diamonds and is the fourth-largest exporter of nonfuel minerals in Africa. In terms of scale, impact and economic importance, diamond mining is the most prominent industrial activity in Namibia.
The Antwerp Diamond Bank, created in 1934 and known during its first few years as Comptoir Diamantaire Anversois, was a small bank that specialized exclusively in serving the diamond and the diamond-jewelry industry. In addition to its headquarters in Antwerp, it had offices covering major traditional as well as emerging diamond centers such as Dubai, Geneva, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and New York. In 1999, ADB became a wholly owned subsidiary of KBC Bank, and in 2014 it was wound down after a sale process to the Chinese Yinren Group failed.
The mining industry of Sierra Leone accounted for 4.5 percent of the country's GDP in 2007 and minerals made up 79 percent of total export revenue with diamonds accounting for 46 percent of export revenue in 2008. The main minerals mined in Sierra Leone are diamonds, rutile, bauxite, gold, iron and limonite.
Antwerp's diamond district, also known as the Diamond Quarter (Diamantkwartier), and dubbed the Square Mile, is an area within the city of Antwerp, Belgium. It consists of several square blocks covering an area of about one square mile. While as of 2012, much of the gem cutting and polishing work historically done in the neighborhood had moved to low wage centers elsewhere, about 84% of the world's rough diamonds passed through the district, making it the largest diamond district in the world with a turnover of 54 billion dollars. Each year, approximately 50% of the rough diamonds return to Antwerp for cutting and polishing.
Antwerp is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third largest city in Belgium by area at 204.51 km2 (78.96 sq mi) after Tournai and Couvin. With a population of 536,079, it is the most populous municipality in Belgium, and with a metropolitan population of over 1,200,000 people, the country's second-largest metropolitan region after Brussels.
Foreign trade in India includes all imports and exports to and from India. At the level of the Central Government, trade is administered by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Foreign trade accounted for 48.8% of India's GDP in 2018.
The diamond industry in Armenia is a significant part of the country's manufacturing and exports. Armenia is a major supplier of diamond.
Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) is a diamond trade centre located in DREAM City, Surat, Gujarat, India, designed by the architecture firm Morphogenesis. It is the world's largest diamond trading hub with a floor space of 660,000 square metres (7,100,000 sq ft), as well as the world's largest office building, ahead of The Pentagon.
India recognized Botswana shortly after the latter's independence in 1966, and opened an embassy in Gaborone in 1987. Botswana opened its embassy in New Delhi in 2006.