MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Representatives of BRICS countries, African diamond mining countries and leading international industry associations have defined areas of cooperation for development of the diamond industry, with the inauguration meeting of the informal dialog platform held in Moscow, the press service of the Russian Finance Ministry said.

"The launch of the diamond dialog platform in the BRICS+ platform with participation of diamond mining countries of Africa will facilitate strengthening of trade and business ties between our countries, creation of new forms of cooperation and elaboration of a single position of representatives of all ‘diamond pipeline’ segments from mining to retail in common interests of sustainable development of the sector," Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said, cited by the ministry’s press service.

"It is important to stress that our cooperation is being built on principles of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme as the single universal mechanism of regulating global trade in raw diamonds," Moiseev stressed.

Main working areas of the dialog program will comprise creation of added value in chains of supplies, support of cut diamonds generic marketing programs in BRICS markets, support of unified standards of responsible diamond mining and trading, and sharing best practices.

Representatives of BRICS countries discussed feasibility of creating unified standards of quality and rules of trading in gems and precious metals to boost their turnover in their markets as part of a separate session, the ministry’s press service said.