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Russia supports development of roadmap to restore CAR in Kimberley Process

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said that the role to be played by Russia in the implementation of this roadmap will depend on the decision of the Kimberley Process

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MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Russia as the country chairing the Kimberley Process in 2020 considers it necessary to develop a roadmap for restoration of membership of the Central African Republic (CAR) in the organization, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said on Tuesday.

"We do not support lifting any barriers for CAR to restore their membership in the Kimberley Process. CAR does not meet [the requirements] now. A roadmap should be prepared for CAR to meet requirements of the Kimberley Process, to show them what they should do and what steps they should take in order to return to the market in the legal form," Moiseev said.

Russia's goal is to help the government of CAR to develop the control mechanism, so that to be sure that people mining diamonds receive revenues from that, Moiseev said. The role to be played by Russia in the implementation of this roadmap will depend on the decision of the Kimberley Process, he added.

The Kimberley Process founded in South Africa in 2000 is an international initiative under the UN auspices. Its participants are countries producing and importing diamonds, setting the objective of excluding ‘conflict’ diamonds from international trade, which are produced illegally and used to finance purchases of weapons and support of antigovernment and terrorism organizations. The Kimberley Process supports control over export and import operations, overseeing up to 99% of the global turnover of diamonds.

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