Belgium Diamonds

Diamonds make up most of Angola's remaining exports. Despite increased corporate ownership of diamond fields, much production is currently in the hands of small-scale prospectors, often operating illegally. The government is making an increased effort to register and license these prospectors. Legal sales of rough diamonds may occur only through the government's diamond-buying parastatal, although many producers continue to try and bypass the system to obtain higher prices. The government has established an export certification scheme consistent with the "Kimberley Process" to identify legitimate production and sales. Other mineral resources, including gold, remain largely undeveloped, though granite and marble mining has begun. ... [Read More]

Trade Transparency Units

Trade-based systems act as a kind of parallel method of transferring money and value around the world. The 2003 and 2004 editions of the INCSR have profiled the use and growing recognition of "trade-based" money laundering. Systems such as hawala, the black market peso exchange, and the use of commodities such as gold and diamonds are not captured by current financial reporting requirements. These systems pose tremendous challenges for law enforcement around the world. Moreover, many of these alternative remittance systems are indigenous and ethnic-based, making them even more difficult for U.S. investigators to understand, penetrate, and target. As the United States and other countries worldwide tighten financial regulation and reporting for the formal and even informal financial sectors, the use of trade-based money laundering and alternative remittance systems will assuredly grow. As in the past, when the United States advanced global financial transparency, today it is ... [Read More]

Armenia (04/05)

Trade: Exports--$678.1 million (f.o.b., 81.3% to countries outside CIS): diamonds, scrap metal, machinery and equipment, brandy, copper ore. Export partners--Belgium 18.3%, Israel 21%, Russia 13.9%, U.S. 8.3%, Iran 3.3%. Imports--$1.269 billion (f.o.b., 73.6% from countries outside the CIS): natural gas, petroleum, tobacco products, foodstuffs, and diamonds. Import partners--Russia 16.4%, Belgium 10.2%, Israel 9.7%, Iran 5.3%, U.S. 8.0%. ... [Read More]

Central African Republic (06/05)

The Central African Republic is classified as one of the world's least developed countries, with an annual per capita income of $260 (2002). Sparsely populated and landlocked, the nation is overwhelmingly agrarian, with the vast bulk of the population engaged in subsistence farming and 55% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) arising from agriculture. Principal crops include cotton, food crops (cassava, yams, bananas, maize), coffee, and tobacco. In 2002, timber accounted for about 30% of export earnings. The country also has rich but largely unexploited natural resources in the form of diamonds, gold, uranium, and other minerals. There may be oil deposits along the country's northern border with Chad. Diamonds are the only of these mineral resources currently being developed; in 2002, diamond exports made up close to 50% of the C.A.R.'s export earnings. Industry contributes only about 20% of the country's GDP, with artesian diamond mining, breweries, and sawmills making up th ... [Read More]

B - Table of Contents and Summary Charts

Diamonds and Tanzanite South Asia Overview ... [Read More]

Sierra Leone (04/05)

Mineral exports remain Sierra Leone's principal foreign exchange earner. Sierra Leone is a major producer of gem-quality diamonds. Though rich in this resource, the country has historically struggled to manage its exploitation and export. Annual production estimates range between $250-300 million. However, only a portion of that passes through formal export channels (1999: $1.2 million; 2000: $7 million; 2001: $26 million; 2002: $42 million; 2003: $76 million; 2004: $127 million). The balance is smuggled out, where it is used for money laundering and the financing of other illicit activities. Recent efforts on the part of the country to improve the management of the export trade have met with some success. In October 2000, a new UN-approved export certification system for exporting diamonds from Sierra Leone was put into place that led to a dramatic increase in legal exports. In 2001, the Government of Sierra Leone created a mining community development fund, which returns a portion of ... [Read More]

Department of State Washington File: Text: Treasury Targets Trade Abuse That Finances Terrorists

The latest Kimberley Process plenary meeting that took place in Canada in October 2004 noted significant progress in the implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification scheme.  Kimberley Process Participants now encompass the overwhelming majority of the producers and traders in rough diamonds.  Although the Kimberley Process has made notable progress in counteracting the trade in conflict diamonds, the procedures were not designed specifically to combat diamond laundering or other financial crimes associated with diamonds.  For example, the trade in rough diamonds and the mixing of parcels before being imported into a country for finishing and sale is a recognized vulnerability.  There are reports that in some locations that Kimberley certificates can be purchased on the black market.  Moreover, the trade in polished stones is not subject to the Kimberley Process. ... [Read More]

Department of State Washington File: Text: White House Fact Sheet on Illicit Diamonds and Conflicts

In Okinawa, the G-8 expressed special concern that the proceeds from the illicit trade in diamonds have contributed to aggravating armed conflict and humanitarian crises, particularly in Africa. The G-8 therefore called for an international conference to consider practical approaches to breaking the link between the illicit trade in diamonds and armed conflict, including consideration of an international agreement on certification for rough diamonds. ...

The U.S. and the U.K. have led the work of the group of experts to recommend a series of steps on illicit diamonds endorsed by the G-8 Foreign Ministers at Miyazaki on June 13 and called for the issue of conflict diamonds to be included on the agenda for the G-8 meeting in Okinawa as part of an initiative on conflict prevention. ... [Read More]

Belgium (06/05)

Trade (2003 est.): Exports--$189.2 billion: Iron and steel, coal, transportation equipment, tractors, diamonds, petroleum products. Imports--$173 billion: Fuels, chemical products, grains, foodstuffs. Trading partners--EU 74%; United States 6%. ... [Read More]