Members of three of the world's leading diamond bourses will find themselves together on the trading floor of the Israel Diamond Exchange at the upcoming International Diamond Week (IDW) in Israel in February.
Originally scheduled for last August, the winter edition of the event will gather -- for the first time since the Israel Diamond Exchange instituted the IDW platform - members of the Diamond Dealers Club of New York, the Antwerp Diamond Bourse (Beurs voor Diamanthandel) and the Israel Diamond Exchange on the IDE trading floor and conduct business with visiting buyers and one another.
"The diamond business is changing fast," IDE President Shmuel Schnitzer said. "However, the business model of the diamond exchange remains valid. All we have to do is enhance it and make it work better for our members. We are doing this with the IDW model in Israel while our colleagues in New York and Antwerp are developing their own models. And wherever there is synergy, we cooperate, gladly and purposely."
"In each market, bourses are developing their own initiatives," Marcel Pruwer, President of the Antwerp Diamond Bourse (Beurs voor Diamanthandel) said. "As bourse president, I am first of all looking to bring added value to our members. In Antwerp, we're doing so by - successfully - expanding our marketing efforts toward the downstream markets, around the world."
Pruwer added that through cooperation the bourses - and for that matter other critical industry forums - will be far stronger and much better placed to build a sustainably thriving, profitable and applaudable industry "Achieving this by bringing members of our bourses together on the trading floors, as in this instance, is a good thing!" he concluded.
DDC President Reuven Kaufman, who will be leading a significant delegation of his bourse, said the proof is in the pudding. "These initiatives are not about re-inventing the wheel, on the contrary. We know we have a great vehicle and great people who are using it. We simply need to make it work better, faster, more efficiently and more profitably. And as long as it drives business to all parties' satisfaction we will continue to fuel it."
