Antwerp World Diamond Center (AWDC) held a special seminar on financing the diamond industry at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Representatives of international financial institutions were addressed by the head of the government of Belgium's Flanders, Geert Bourgeois.
The seminar initiative is part of a strategy to inform banks and key players in the financial sector about the dynamics and specific aspects of financing the diamond industry. Today only 5% of global financial institutions are involved in providing financial support to the diamond industry.
In addition to providing additional information on the potential of Antwerp as the world's leading diamond trading center and the state of the global diamond industry - from the mine to the customer's finger, participants in the seminar discussed the development prospects and challenges of securing sustainable financing for the industry. Along with this, AWDC presented an analysis of the growing demand for diamonds as an investment tool and the initiatives that Antwerp is promoting for this purpose.
For its part, Sabine Smets, head of Head Belgium D & JC, International Clients, ABN-AMRO spoke about the prospects that the financing of the diamond industry opens for the banking sector,