UN-affiliated Antwerp ITCCO to conduct high-level seminar in Vicenza

The Antwerp ITCCO (International Training Center for Corporate Opportunities) will conduct a high-level seminar in Vicenza, Italy, on May 15, where representatives of the United Nations, the European Community, national governments and the Kimberley Process, as well as leaders from the diamond and jewelry industries, will consider the strengthening of the Kimberley Process through training and capacity development, and the establishment of systems designed to enable the monitoring, certification and labeling of ethical jewelry, ITCCO reported.
Among the officials who have indicated that will serve as seminar panel members are the Kimberley Chair, Ambassador Gillian A. Milovanovic, and Carlos Lopes, UN Assistant Secretary-General and the Executive Director of the United Nations Institute for Training and Development (UNITAR).
The seminar is being held as part of the World Jewelry Forum, which is being hosted by the Fiera di Vicenza from May 13 to May 23. It will take place a day after the close of the 8th Annual Meeting of the World Diamond Council, and two days before the start of the 2012 CIBJO Congress on May 17.
The seminar will include two sessions. The first will focus on the creation of properly structured training and capacity development programs to support Kimberley Process compliance.
The second session will look at the development of systems to monitor CSR in the distribution chain with the eventual goal of being able to certify and label jewelry that is manufactured and traded in an ethical manner. Participants will consider the options available for reviewing and tracking ethics and sustainability performance in the jewelry sector, including those based on existing international principles, guidelines and standards.
"The ITCCO seminar will emphasize the duality of CSR and sustainability in the greater jewelry sector," said Gaetano Cavalieri, President of CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation. "It will examine how, through proper responsible and ethical business practices, we will not only defend the reputation of our products and our industry, but we will also provide proper economic opportunity to and improve the wellbeing of all our stakeholders, from the mines to the consumer markets."
Antwerp ITTCO was established in 2011 by UNITAR, in cooperation with the UN Global Compact, CIBJO, the Region of Flanders, the City of Antwerp, AWDC and the Belgium Diamond Trust Funds.

Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished