India, Botswana to sign diamonds trade agreement

Indian press reported on Friday that the country plans to sign an agreement with Botswana to buy uncut diamonds for its diamond cutting and finishing industry directly, instead of buying from third parties in London and Antwerp, among other diamond centers. Indian diamond executives believe the deal might provide competition to De Beers, the world's largest diamond miner and trader.

Indian sources said an agreement is expected to be inked during the current visit of India's vice-president Hamid Ansari to Botswana starting today. Currently, De Beers has the monopoly of mining and distributing diamonds from Botswana, and things will be this way for the next two years, when the contract between the African country and the diamond giant reportedly will come to an end.