IDE's Paz new WFDB president

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IDE's Paz new WFDB president

May 13, 2008

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Shanghai, China—Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) President Avi Paz is the new president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), succeeding South Africa's Ernest Blom.

Paz was elected at the opening of the WFDB's 33rd World Diamond Congress, taking place now through Thursday in Shanghai, China.

The WFDB elected Blom to continue to serve in the role of vice president and appointed him honorary life president of the federation.

In his acceptance speech, Paz said the WFDB must hold on to its central position in the international diamond industry.

"I am a great believer in cooperation, and I believe the fact that we are all united into a federation gives us enormous power," Paz said in a media release issued on Tuesday. "We have to use this power wisely. If we will know how to take advantage of the fact that we are one big family, I have no doubt we will achieve all our goals for the benefit of everyone involved."

The congress is the biennial gathering of the general assemblies of both the WFDB and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA).

Prior to the congress, IDMA officials announced that one of the topics they will address is the need to develop a worldwide, generic advertising campaign for diamonds.

In other news from the opening of the congress:

—The WFDB presented its first-ever Diamantaire of the Year award posthumously to former WFDB president and longtime diamond industry leader Moshe Schnitzer, who died in August 2007.

—The WFDB general assembly approved the admission of three new diamond exchange members: the Diamond Dealers Club of Australia, the Istanbul Gold and Diamond Exchange and the Panama Diamond Exchange.

Blom said all three new exchanges will serve markets with great diamond-growth potential that were without diamond exchanges.

"The Australian bourse will be located in an affluent market that reaches beyond the country into the markets of New Zealand and the South Pacific," he said. "The Turkish bourse is situated in the heartland of one of the world's most rapidly growing consumer markets that is expanding its tastes from gold into diamond-set jewelry. The Panama bourse sits at the gateway to an entire continent that is not yet served by a single, local diamond bourse, and which recently was mentioned by De Beers Managing Director Gareth Penny as a diamond market of the future."

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