The Israel Diamond Exchange and Russian diamond producer ALROSA, the world's largest diamond producer, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently, as the Israeli diamond industry and trade and the Russian mining giant seek to improve their mutual understanding and increase cooperation between the two parties.

The MoU was signed on the second day of the International Diamond Week in Israel by delegation head Andrey Polyakov, ALROSA vice president, and IDE president Shmuel Schnitzer. Following the ceremony, the ALROSA delegation and representatives of the Israel diamond industry and trade made their way to Jerusalem for a reception and meeting with Israel's president Reuven Rivlin, who hosted the parties at the official presidential residence.

At the basis of the MoU stands the bilateral promotion of the diamond trade between Russian and Israel. In addition, the MoU covers a wide scale of topics, among others the intent to create a long-term cooperative relationship; to advance promotion and support of the countries' businesses in the international markets; to establish a cooperation and information exchange in diamond education as well as polished diamond identification and grading; to promote joint research toward new technologies for diamond cutting and polishing; develop new methods of sorting and origin analysis of diamonds, as well as the identification of synthetics and treated diamonds; to advance the struggle against mixing synthetic diamonds with natural diamonds; and to develop further responsible business practices toward responsible and environmentally friendly business models.

Thanking President Rivlin for his hospitality, delegation head Andrey Polyakov said ALROSA recognized the Israeli diamond industry and trade as a pivotal and important player in the global diamond business. The advantage of Israel's diamond industry are its technological developments, which have been phenomenal, he said during a visit to the newly inaugurated Modern Manufacturing Centre. "We are sure that we'll be able to identify the many interests and synergies we share and cooperate successfully," he stated.

"We're honored and pleased with the visit of this high ranking delegation of the ALROSA Company and the Russian diamond industry and trade," Shmuel Schnitzer said. "Annually, ALROSA produces a quarter of all gem quality diamonds in the world and we are very pleased with the closer ties that we are establishing by means of the MoU! Of course, during this visit we also look forward to discuss the interests of Israel's diamond manufacturers," the IDE president said.