The UAE showcases its achievements "General best practices" Kimberley Process before the United Nations General Assembly

NEW YORK, April 17, 2017 (WAM) – Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of the Kimberley Process, representing the United Arab Emirates in its capacity as the “Regent President,” presented a high-level briefing before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, during which he reviewed the most prominent achievements of the UAE’s presidency for the year 2025 within the “Year of Best Practices” initiative.

He also touched on the state-led resolution entitled “The Role of Diamonds in Fueling Conflicts,” which was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

The resolution, which was co-sponsored by 50 countries, reflects the most prominent outcomes and decisions reached during the UAE’s presidency, reinforcing the message of the Kimberley Process aimed at establishing a conflict-free global diamond trade.

The decision embodies international recognition of the pivotal achievements made by the UAE during its 2025 presidency, including launching technical assistance initiatives in support of diamond production communities, strengthening governance frameworks and work mechanisms, as well as making tangible progress in the structural review of the Kimberley Process, which contributes to addressing the challenges facing limited artisanal mining communities.

Although the decision is not legally binding, it reinforces the international commitment to promoting conflict-free diamond trade, and at the same time confirms the pivotal leadership role played by the UAE in advancing the Kimberley Process and enhancing its impact at the global level.

Ahmed bin Sulayem said, during his speech before the United Nations General Assembly, that during the “Year of Best Practices,” our mission was to build on the gains of 2024, and transform them into more established applications and more efficient work mechanisms, in addition to raising the preparedness of the Kimberley Process in preparation for the future. This included enhancing levels of compliance, consolidating the sustainability of institutional work, and ensuring that the process remains able to keep pace with rapid changes at a stage in which the pace of developments sometimes exceeds the existing procedural frameworks, stressing that Tangible and clear progress has been achieved on this path.

Bin Sulayem highlighted a package of qualitative initiatives that were implemented within the UAE Presidency for the year 2025, saying: “We have achieved a series of notable achievements, as we adopted qualitative measures to enhance technical assistance provided to diamond production communities, and we made tangible progress in the structural review of the Kimberley Process with the aim of addressing the challenges faced by the limited artisanal miner communities. We also worked to strengthen governance frameworks and working mechanisms, including leadership arrangements and enshrining best practices related to holding meetings. International consensus has been demonstrated regarding The importance of these issues through the ministerial meeting held on the sidelines of the plenary session of the Kimberley Process in Dubai, which is the first ministerial meeting of the process since the Interlaken meeting in 2002.”

Bin Sulayem added that, within the framework of the UAE presidency, we have made significant progress in the path of digital transformation through qualitative initiatives, including the “Verifico” platform, which is a secure digital platform for issuing certificates, designed to enhance the levels of traceability, efficiency and integrity within the Kimberley Process system, and the use of artificial intelligence technologies is an essential pillar in supporting and enhancing the work of the process in the future.

He pointed out that the session held in Dubai entitled “Best Practices in the Era of Artificial Intelligence” represented a turning point for this discussion, and contributed to anticipating promising areas of application, explaining that the future path is to launch pilot programs, unify data standards, and adopt a phased approach to integrating artificial intelligence techniques into the various verification systems of the Kimberley Process system.

During their interventions at the United Nations General Assembly, several countries praised the efforts of the UAE during its presidency of the Kimberley Process as the “Regent Chair” for the year 2025.

The representative of the Republic of Zimbabwe said, on this occasion, that his country extends its congratulations to the United Arab Emirates on the success of its presidency of the Kimberley Process for the issuance of certificates of origin as the “Regent Chairman” for the year 2025, and on its pivotal role in facilitating negotiations on the draft resolution before us.

He stressed that the Kimberley Process remains a unique tripartite initiative, bringing together governments, the diamond sector and civil society around a common goal of preventing the leakage of conflict diamonds into global trade chains.

He added that restricting the view of the Kimberley Process to a narrow scope limited to conflict diamonds ignores its broader role, as a catalyst for development, trade and investment, and an enabler of international cooperation in the extractive industries sector, in addition to its pivotal position as an engine of economic growth and a guardian of environmental sustainability.

For his part, the representative of the United Kingdom said that his country thanks the United Arab Emirates for its distinguished leadership of the Kimberley Process during the “Year of Best Practices,” pointing out that the process has achieved outstanding achievements since its establishment, stressing the firm commitment to continue supporting its efforts aimed at disentangling diamonds from conflicts, contributing to strengthening international peace and security, and improving societies.

For his part, the representative of the United States thanked the members of the General Assembly for their constructive interaction with this resolution, expressing the United States’ special appreciation to the United Arab Emirates for its active role in facilitating its work, calling on the participants in the Kimberley Process to move forward on the path of reforming it in a way that ensures maintaining its importance and effectiveness in light of the continuous development of the diamond supply chain, including expanding the scope of the definition of conflict diamonds.

It should be noted that the UAE is the first and only Arab country to chair the Kimberley Process in 2016, an international group charged with regulating the global diamond trade.

The Kimberley Process was established in 2003 by the United Nations, and involves 86 countries seeking to ensure that unregulated rough diamonds do not enter the legitimate diamond market as a means of financing conflicts.

The UAE chaired the Kimberley Process for the second time in its history in 2024, and continues its leadership of the process as Chair of Trustee through 2025, under the leadership of Ahmed bin Sulayem, the first CEO and CEO of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre.

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