28 Jun 2016

Kenya President Mr Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday toured the Diamond Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) as part of his itinerary during his three-day state visit to Botswana.  

Briefing the visiting president, DTCB head of operations Mr Joseph Itlhobogeng said his company which was a joint venture between the government and De Beers, started its operations in 2008.

He said the company sorted and valued only Debswana production and sold to Okavango Diamond Company and De Beers Global Sightholder Sales (DBGSS).

Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) is wholly owned by the government and receives 15 per cent of rough diamonds from DTCB while the remaining 85 per cent goes to DBGSS.

There are 21 diamond cutting and polishing companies in the country, called sightholders and Mr Itlhobogeng said they employed 3500 people.

Major markets for local diamonds are the United States of America which gets 40 per cent of world production followed by Japan, China and India.

DTCB is the world’s largest sorting and valuing facility with 435 employees majority of whom are Batswana and currently sorts 20 million carats a year.

President Kenyatta said he and his entourage were pleased with how the government was able to negotiate a 50/50 partnership with De Beers saying usually the private companies wanted to maximise their profits at the expense of citizens. Ends