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The second day of the 2015 Congress of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) recently provided the international audience with a large variety of presentations from experts on gemology, business practices and trade.



Chanaka Ellawala, giving his presentation: Sri Lanka's best kept secret - jewelry made in Sri Lanka.

The day started with a speech by CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility and transparency in business practices. He was followed by Nilam Alawdeen who spoke on the topical issue of nomenclature and the difficulty of creating harmonization of terms such as 'Pigeon's Blood Red' and 'Royal Blue'.

Nirmal Bardiya gave the Congress an exhaustive review of the state of the colored stone and diamond industry in India. The country's overall gems and jewelry exports annually amount to $40 billion, of which the colored gemstone trade accounts for just over $450 million.



Prida Tiasuwan addressing the audience

Jay Boyle, senior buyer at Jewelry Television in the United States, provided a different perspective on the colored gemstone trade, telling the audience that the station is in its 22nd year and is watched in around 84 million households. The company has sold $2 billion of gemstones to date, he said.

Meanwhile, Prida Tiasuwan, Chairman of Pranda Jewelry Public Co. Ltd, spoke on the issue of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which aims to create regional economic integration of 10 South east Asian states by the end of 2015. He added that a proposed Free Trade Agreement, called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which would include a further six countries in the region including China and India, would lead to a regional organization with more than half the world's population.



Vincent Pardieu making his presentation to the Congress.

AEC Saman Amarasena and Faiq Rehan spoke on the skills of the Sri Lankan gemstone cutting industry, and Oded Ben Shmuel, from Sarine Technologies, told the Congress about the company's Allegro system for mapping and cutting of gemstones in order to increase yields.

In the final session of the day, there were presentations on the colored gemstone market in China, new mines, markets and mining strategies, the marketing of colored gemstones, and the importance of disclosure in order to boost consumer confidence.