A new international think tank called the World Diamond and Jewellery Forum (WDJF) is being established, with the primary goal of providing the diamond and jewelry sectors with the broadest possible view and understanding of the challenges that face them, and to consider and propose alternative strategies for dealing with such challenges. It will operate under the auspices of Fiera di Vicenza, the leading Italian business platform, trade show organizer and service provider.
The announcement was made by Matteo Marzotto, the president of Fiera di Vicenza, during a press reception in Venice, before the start of the VICENZAORO Fall trade show in Vicenza. He also introduced the leadership of the new forum: Eli Izhakoff, the honorary life president of the World Diamond Council, the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) and CIBJO, will be WDJF's chairman; Gaetano Cavalieri, the president of CIBJO, will be WDJC's president, and Corrado Facco, the managing director of Fiera di Vicenza, will be WDJF's managing director.
"We envision an organization that will serve our industry much like the World Economic Forum does at Davos, in the service of the larger financial community," said Marzotto. "Like the World Economic Forum, while WDJF will engage with and encourage the participation of the leadership of the industry, it will remain independent of politics. It is not meant to supplant any existing organizations; in fact it is intended to serve the interests of all those bodies. Representatives of the other industry organizations will be invited to participate in WDJF's deliberations and to tap into its knowledge base."
WDJF will fill a void in the greater diamond and jewelry industry, said Izhakoff. "The complete absence of any all-industry analysis and planning mechanism has resulted in situations in which we have often been forced to react after the fact to potentially dangerous threats, which we had not properly anticipated. This includes the conflict diamond crisis in 1999 and 2000, the collapse of the Japanese markets in 2007 and the global financial crisis in 2008. It also has meant that we have been late in taking advantage of new and/or developing economic opportunities. WDJF is intended to provide that analysis and planning capability."
Cavalieri added, "We intend WDJF to be fully inclusive. We will engage with leaders and opinion makers from the diamond and jewelry industries, government, the international community and specifically the United Nations, academia, other business sectors, civil society and the greater community, in order to analyze and consider current and future developments and to influence and help shape global, regional and domestic agendas in the jewelry, diamond, colored gemstone, pearl, precious metals and related sectors."
Over the coming months, WDJF will introduce its operating structure and schedule. The new organization plans to conduct its first public forum for the industry in conjunction with the premiere edition of the VICENZAORO DUBAI show, which will take place in Dubai, April 23 to 26, 2015.
