(Communicated by the Israel Diamond Exchange)

Following the resounding success of the first International Diamond Week held in March 2013 which drew hundreds of buyers from around the world, the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) will hold a second International Diamond Week from August 26-29, 2013. This international trading event will be held on the floors of IDE’s polished and rough trading halls in Ramat Gan, which together constitute the largest, most secure and technologically advanced diamond trading floor in the world.

The event will bring together hundreds of international and Israeli diamond traders. IDE expects more than 350 buyers from the U.S., Hong Kong, India, China, Belgium, Italy, U.K. and other markets to participate. About 350 leading Israeli firms will be located at specially constructed booths on the diamond trading floor. Foreign buyers will be able to trade with these firms as well as any of the 1,350 firms located within the diamond complex.

Buyers will find a vast range of loose diamonds - every size, color, and type, totaling more than a billion dollars in value, and at very attractive prices. Moreover, the event will feature major rough diamond tenders by companies such as Rio Tinto and Alrosa, lectures by international diamond experts, an auction of unique polished stones and jewelry, as well as festive social events and unsurpassed networking opportunities. Buyers from abroad will be able to combine their working visit with vacation add-ons to Jerusalem, Galilee or Eilat.

A large, diverse group of diamond buyers from Hong Kong and mainland China will be arriving to participate in the event. Headed by Conroy Cheng Chi-heng of Chow Tai Fook, China's leading jewelry brand, other members of the delegation are representatives from leading diamond trading and jewelry firms such as Chow Sang Sang Jewellers, Dehres, Brilliant Trading, Kunming Trading, Lee Hen, Wu Leung Lee and Aharoni & Son.

"There is a lot of excitement in the air at our bourse," says Israel Diamond Exchange president Yair Sahar. "The participation of such a prominent delegation of diamond buyers offers yet more proof of the fruitful relationship that the Israeli diamond industry and trade has developed with the markets in Asia and in particular with Hong Kong and greater China."

Other buyers' groups that will arrive in August include the delegation from the Diamond Dealers Club of New York, headed by the co-initiator of the Diamond Week, DDC president Reuven Kaufman; a delegation from India organized with the support Vipul Shah, chairman of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC); Anoop Mehta, president of the Bharat Diamond Bourse of Mumbai; and Vasant Mehta, a former GJEPC president and vice president of the International Diamond Manufacturers Association; a group of buyers from Russia, accompanied by Moscow Diamond Bourse president Alex Popov; and a host of individual buyers from all over the world.