The issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies in the gemstone and jewelry sectors came under the spotlight at a seminar held at the VICENZAORO January show in Vicenza, Italy, on January 24.
The seminar was part of a joint program by CIBJO and Fiera di Vicenza to promote CSR education in the jewelry sector. The seminar was supported by Gemfields PLC, the world's largest colored gemstone mining company.
The basic idea of the seminar was that in the current business environment, CSR no longer is a practice that one chooses to follow or not.
It has become a required element of every industry company and organization , which individually must be able to describe its approach and, if possible, quantify it.
There was a special focus on the colored gemstone sector, with three of the speakers from that trade.
The speakers included:
- Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO
- Corrado Facco, Managing Director of Fiera di Vicenza and President of CIBJO's International Trade Fair Commission
- Eduardo Escobedo, Executive Director of the Responsible Ecosystems Sourcing Platform (RESP)
- Ian Harebottle, CEO of GemFields PLC
- Dr Donald Feaver, Chief Technical Officer of Branded Trust Assurance Systems
- Paolo Cesari, President of Assogemme, the Italian Association Precious Gemstones and Related Material.