Page 137 - MOE ENGLISH PR REPORT - MAY 2025 ( Part 2)

Dubai traded over 1b carats of rough, polished

diamonds in five years

1w •
3 min read

Dubai: Dubai has been cementing itself as one of the world's most powerful players in the global
diamond trade—now with the numbers to prove it.

The UAE has confirmed that more than 1.06 billion carats of rough and polished diamonds were
traded through Dubai over the past five years, with 179 million carats traded in 2024 alone. The
figures were shared by Ahmed Bin Sulayem, the UAE’s Chair of the Kimberley Process (KP), during
the annual Kimberley Process Intersessional Meeting, held last week in Dubai.

The Kimberley Process is a UN-mandated initiative involving 85 countries, designed to prevent
conflict diamonds from entering the global market. The UAE currently holds the chairmanship of
the KP for the third time, continuing into 2025 under the theme “Year of Best Practice.”

Rare blue diamond fetches $21.5 million at auction in Geneva
Tech meets tradition

In a major step toward bringing transparency to the centuries-old diamond trade, the UAE also
launched “Verifico”, a digital traceability platform designed to secure and track Kimberley Process
(KP) certificates across borders. These certificates are crucial for verifying that diamonds entering
global markets are conflict-free.
“Verifico is not just a platform—it’s a promise of transparency,” said Ahmed Bin Sulayem. “We are
offering it to all KP participants as part of our broader mission to modernise the trade. The time for
digital transformation is now.”

The KP Chair called Verifico a “key driver” in the UAE’s campaign to upgrade global diamond
governance, aligning with the country's ongoing digital ambitions across multiple sectors.
Call for more engagement

Ahmed Bin Sulayem also proposed the first-ever ministerial meeting of Kimberley Process
participants. The goal, he said, is to bring together countries involved in the production, trading, and
consumption of diamonds to address key challenges facing the industry and the KP framework.

Once a newcomer to the industry, Dubai has rapidly evolved into a key connector in the diamond
supply chain between producer countries in Africa, manufacturers in India, and retailers in the US
and Europe.

“There are three markets currently keeping the diamond industry alive,” he said. “The United States
as the largest jewellery retail market, India as the cutting and polishing hub, and the UAE as the
largest rough diamond hub in the world.”

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