Brussels, Belgium - Zimbabwe will become the largest producer of diamond in the world by 2013, with an expected volume of 40 million carats per year, to be produced from the rich deposits in Marange, the former director of the Diamond High Council (HRD), Filip Van Laere, revealed on his return from a visit to Zimbabwe.

Van Laere said this during a conference in Antwerp, Belgium, which, with an annual turnover of US$ 90 billion, is the world's largest market-place for buying and selling of raw diamonds, while Belgium is not a diamond-producing country.

Van Laere visited Zimbabwe at the invitation of the Government of Harare, who requested his advice in order to comply with the rules of Kimberley Process for diamond exports.

Recently, the general meeting of the Kimberley Process lifted sanctions on Zimbabwe, allowing the southern African country to export its precious stones.

The Kimberley Process, which brings together more than 90 countries and organizations, has established a system to control international trade in diamonds to combat the smuggling of precious stones, which fuels armed conflicts in Africa.

For Filip Van Laere, Zimbabwe is expected to become the largest producer of diamonds before Botswana, South Africa and Russia.

The export of 40 million carats of diamonds in Zimbabwe provides annual revenues of approximately US$ 2 billion, said the former director of the Diamond High Council.

'Currently, Zimbabwe has five million carats of diamond stocks ready to be put immediately on the international market, which allows the country to gain around 20 per cent of the market share globally,' Van Laere said

By Staff reporter and agencies