The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) is a public/private corporation, officially representing and coordinating the
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
diamond sector. It is located in the heart of Antwerp in the Hoveniersstraat. The chief executive officer of AWDC was Ari Epstein. He resigned in April 2024. The Diamond office facilitates the import and export of diamonds in and out of Antwerp. This is primarily done through marketing campaigns, services, conferences, trade fairs, economics missions, and various other ways.
The World Diamond Center is home to all of the major diamond mining companies, which discover diamonds for over 1,800 individual diamond dealers across the globe. Other groups that aid in development, protection, and processing of these diamonds include diamond banks, insurance brokers, forwarders, best polishers, and researchers. It is acknowledged as the diamond capital of the world.
History
In October 1973, the AWDC was established as the Hoge Raad voor Diamant (HRD), or Diamond High Council, by the
Belgian government
The Federal Government of Belgium ( ; ; ) exercises executive power in the Kingdom of Belgium. It consists of ministers and secretaries of state ("junior", or deputy-ministers who do not sit in the Council of Ministers) drawn from the polit ...
and
diamond industry
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
representatives. Their mission was to protect and promote the diamond sector in Belgium. It also had a commercial branch to issue certificates. In 2007, the Diamond High Council was restructured and split up in two different enterprises. One of them, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), a private foundation, is responsible for the representation of the collective interests of the Belgian diamond industry domestically and abroad. It also promotes Antwerp as the global capital of the diamond industry. The second, HRD Antwerp, a completely independent subsidiary of AWDC, is a commercial organization with six different branches: Diamond Lab, Precious Stones Lab, Research, Education, Graduates Club and Equipment.
The Diamond Office
The Diamond Office is a government authorized service providing body, established in 1945, enabling the post-war diamond industry to quickly pick up again. The Diamond Office uses a unique model for import and export procedures: one-stop import & export clearing.
See also
* 2003
Antwerp diamond heist
The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century", was the largest ever diamond heist and one of the largest robberies in history. Thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry valued at more than $100 million. ...
References
{{Authority control
Companies based in Antwerp
Diamond industry in Belgium