The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, said last week in Luanda that 20 percent of diamonds extracted are processed in the country.
The Head of State, who made this statement during a press conference, said that this result represents a totally different scenario in the country, in relation to the past, when diamonds were extracted, but the transformation was all done abroad.
“Nowadays, 40 percent of the amount that SODIAM-EP receives from the producers, 20 percent goes to the domestic diamond cutting industries,” he said, adding the fact that the country has more processing industries, as a result of the cancellations of unfair contracts made in the last four years, as opposed to 2017, when there were two in Luanda.
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He also said that the country has a number of more than 10 polishing industries, and noted that the Saurimo Industrial Hub, in Lunda Sul, had attracted crystal transformation companies.
According to president Lourenço, Angola is beginning to become an important point in the diamond market, given that it now not only sells rough diamonds, as it did before, but also has processing industries.
“We are beginning to fulfil the desire to transform our raw materials in our country and to add value to our resources,” he stressed.
