Mr. Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources on Tuesday advised African countries to ensure maximum benefits from the mining sector by adding value to the minerals for use locally and for export.

He said strong partnerships based on mutual respect could help in addressing the issue.

Mr. Hammah was addressing the Fourth Ordinary Meeting of the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA) Council of Ministers in Accra.

The ADPA, of which Ghana is a member, is to champion the cause of diamond production in African countries.

Mr. Hammah said “The situation where our natural resources are exported in the raw state to create jobs abroad to our detriment must be seriously addressed.”

He said Africa contributes more than 60% of the world’s rough diamond output, adding “We have no excuse to continue exporting this non-renewable resource out of our various countries in its rough state”.

Mr. Hammah described diamond cutting and polishing as a multi-billion dollar business worldwide and stressed that Ghana needed to position herself to pursue policies that laid emphasis on benefits of the country’s raw materials to address socio-economic challenges.

He said it was gratifying to note that ADPA had been accorded an observer status in the Kimberly Process (KP), describing the feat as a significant achievement.

The KP is a joint government, industry and civil society initiative to stem the flow of “conflict diamonds” or rough diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments.

Mr. Martin Kabwelulu, Democratic Republic of Congo’s Minister of Mines said ADPA had supported the lifting of a ban imposed by the United Nations and the KP on the export of diamonds from Cote d’Ivoire.

He said Cote d’Ivoire had been banned from exporting her diamonds since 2005, but added that the ADPA had noted that the political situation had positively changed.

Mr. Kabwelulu said “The country is politically and economically reunified. There is no more rebellion. This is the reason why our association thinks that this measure should be lifted”.

He expressed the hope that ADPA would be a “Force and a respectable pressure group” that could influence and regulate the diamond market around the world.

The KP is said to have started when Southern African diamond-producing states met in Kimberley, South Africa, in May 2000, to discuss ways to stop the trade in “conflict diamonds” and to ensure that diamond purchases were not financing violence by rebel movements and their allies seeking to undermine legitimate governments.

The process is said to be opened to all countries that are willing and able to implement its requirements.

In December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark resolution supporting the creation of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds.

By November 2002, negotiations between governments, the international diamond industry and civil society organisations resulted in the creation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).

The KPCS document, which became operational in 2003, when participating countries started to implement its rules, sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade.

It imposes extensive requirements on its members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free' and prevent conflict diamonds from entering the legitimate trade.

Under the terms of the KPCS, participating States must meet ‘minimum requirements' and must put in place national legislation and institutions; export, import and internal controls; and also commit to transparency and the exchange of statistical data.**