Diamond: File picture

Milovanovic was appointed chair of the process in January of this year. She is the first woman to lead the Kimberley Process and this is the first time that the US has held the chairmanship. The Kimberley Process has 50 participants, including the European Union, which represents its 27 Member States, which brings the total number of represented countries to 76.

Speaking during a media round table at the Mining Indaba, Milovanovic said the US has great interest in seeing that the Kimberley Process cintinues and moves into its second decade in good shape.

She stressed that the process is not an institution. It consists of participants - including government, the diamond industry and civil society.

She said it is important that the process work with all aspects of membership and it operates by consensus.

She said one of her priorities as chair this year would be agreement on how to reach the objectives of the process.

Last year a decision was taken to form an ad-hoc working group to review the process - what it is and how it functions. Botswana is chair of the ad hoc group and Canada the vice chair. They are preparing consultations with all of the KP family on what is working properly and what changes will be necessary.

She identified the system or warranties that exist, compliance, human rights and the decision making process in the organisation as issues that the committee will be looking at. On the whole, these are the goals the US has for its chairmanship.

She said he is looking forward to working with everyone involved in the process - the diamond industry and civil society - and she met with them prior to coming to Cape Town for the mining indaba here she has met and held discussions with representatives of those countries that are members of the KP.

She added that she hopes to work closely with SA, which is the vice chair, and is due to take over the chair next year.

"There is an outstanding opportunity for the two countries to work together to set the stage for a very successful fifth anniversary and achievement of the goals," she said.

She believes the KP process has been extremely successful, especially if you look at where it was when it was originally established to halt the flows of rough diamonds from rebel groups.

She said a lot has been achieved since then and the KP can justifiably be proud of those achievements.

She added that it is important that the review process is not a condemnation of what has gone before.

She said the world does not stand still and the process will not stand still and must evolve and look at the challenges of today.

Turing to the administrative process, she said there is no staffing for the process and this has negatively impacted the ability of members to communicate with each other and the public. There are plans to update the website, making the documents available thereon. Transparency and communication is very important.

One of the major issues that the KP has had to deal with was the controversial issue of the Marange diamonds in Zimbabwe.

In November last year the KP watchdog authorised the resumption of diamond sales from two mining sites in Marange, where alleged rights violations took place.

The World Diamond Council which monitors compliance with the KP, said in a statement that the agreement "will enable the immediate export of rough diamonds from two KP-compliant operations in the Marange region".

Global Witness, an advocacy organisation that helped to establish the international certification program, then pulled out of the coalition saying it was no longer effective.

Milovanovic noted that the US chose to abstain from the decision, because it wanted to permit the process to move over the hurdle that had existed. The decision was adopted by the process. She said the issue had been dealt with and going forward, she did not want to revisit it, but here were lessons to be learnt.

Four mines are now certified in Zimbabwe and one of the responsibilities of the process will be to continue to receive the reports that were mandated for Zimbabwe and make sure everything is being done that was agreed to by the KP.

She added that she was sorry that Global Witness had chosen to leave the process, as it was one of the founders.

"We will continue to coordinate with civil society and are also in communication with Global Witness and other NGOs who might have an interest in learning more about the process."

She said it is important to recognise that the world moves on and the process is not dealing with the issues it was 10 years ago. When the process was created the main issues were Nigeria and Sierra Leone.

There are billions of dollars invested in the industry and people whose livelihood depends on the process, so the process must remain relevant and this requires some revisions.

Despite the controversy surrounding the KP, Milovanovic stresses a number of successes. She said a lot has been done to improve the lives of miners, including a project in the Central African Republic to arrange for miners to have title on the land.

"In a practical sense, there are a lot of positive things going on."

She noted that the process had strengthened the statistical area. "You can't know what is going on unless there are statistics. Before the KP there were no statistics," she said.

She concluded that she has been extremely encouraged by the response she has had from industry, civil society and government members she has met and noted a universal desire to see the KP process continue to be relevant and a desire to find ways to work together and see there is a new and vibrant decade for the organisation.