RAPAPORT… Namibia’s minister of mines, Erkki Nghimtina, launched a campaign in defense of the diamond industry due to the upcoming Warner Bros. film Blood Diamond. Namibia is the seventh largest diamond producer by value in the world.
Nghimtina’s campaign –called Diamonds for Good, Spread the Word– offers a video and documented data showing the benefits of diamonds to Namibia.
He told Xinhua news agency that although Namibia was not involved in conflict diamonds, the nation would not tolerate illicit diamond trading.
“What has been driving all of us…is the need to protect and safeguard the image of our product and of course the image and integrity of our own diamond industry,” Nghimtina told Xinhua.
The ministry plans to show the film locally and in the United States, and “viewers will have an opportunity to talk about the steps Namibia has taken to prevent the trade in conflict diamonds in any debate stimulated by the film,” according to Namibia’s Press Agency.
Additional reporting by Dialog NewsEdge