Last week, members of the Antwerp diamond community went to the polls to elect six board members representing the trade in the AWDC, the umbrella organization that represents and serves the interests of the Antwerp diamond industry and trade in Antwerp and abroad, AWDC reported.
Recently, the by-laws of the AWDC extended the duration of the mandates to four instead of two years and implemented an alternating rotation system that will renew half of the board every two years. As a transitional measure, only the Directors representing the trade were elected on June 7&8 2012.
The mandate of the Directors representing the industry, bourses, workers council and independent director will be automatically prolonged until the elections of June 2014. According to the AWDC by-laws, the six directors representing the trade are elected through direct election, organized through a system that ensures equal representation for small, medium-sized and large diamond companies. Voters and candidates are divided in three groups, according to their average turnover over the past two reported years, 2010 and 2011, with each group electing two representatives in his own group for the Board of Directors.
Mr.Kaushik Mehta and Mr. Ramesh Patel were elected as Directors in the category of an annual turnover of more than €100 million. In the second category, with an annual turnover between ?30 million to ?100 million, Mr. Santosh Kedia and Mr. Javeri Shailesh were elected. In the category of an annual turnover of less than ?30 million Mr. Samir Mehta and Mr. Jacques Weisz were elected.
Board Directors Philippe Barsamian, Freddy Inzlicht and Jacky Korn, representing the diamond bourses; Stéphane Fischler, representing the diamond manufacturers and Koen Vandenbempt аs independent Director remain in their position for two more years, until the 2014 elections.
The new Board of Directors will also elect a new President for the AWDC among its members. The Board will bid farewell to outgoing AWDC President Nishit Parikh, who will be retiring after two years in office.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
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