(BRUSSELS) - An international conference in Brussels next week is to review progress in stamping out the trade in diamonds from conflict zones.

The international scheme, which was launched in 2003 and is known as the Kimberley Process after a diamond mining city in South Africa, aims to keep diamonds from financing wars via a certification initiative.

The European Commission, which currently holds Kimberley's rotating presidency, is to host some 300 officials from industry, government and non-governmental organisations for a stock-take of its progress.

According to the European Union's executive arm, the conference will focus on the Ivory Coast, "the one remaining case of conflict diamonds", as well as review Ghana's efforts to improve oversight of its informal mining sector.

Kimberley requires rough diamonds to be sealed in tamper-resistant containers and have forgery-resistant, conflict-free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border.

Currently, 46 countries and the 27-nation EU participate in the scheme after Turkey and Liberia joined it earlier this year.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner is to acknowledge that the scheme still suffers from "serious difficulties of implementation" in some countries such as Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

But "a lot of work has been done during this year to make the Kimberley Process more transparent and more effective," she will say in a speech made available in advance.

In particular, the diamond industry, accused in the past of being opaque, has revealed its production figures for the first time as part of a transparency initiative.

The industry produced 11.5 billion dollars (7.9 billion euros) worth of rough diamonds in 2005, the last year for which data is available under the scheme.

With a 25-percent market share in terms of value, Botswana was the leading producer, followed by Russia with 22 percent, Canada with 12 percent, South Africa with 11 percent and Angola with nine percent.

But in terms of volume measured by carats, Russia was the biggest producer, ahead of Australia and the Democratic Republic of Congo both with 19 percent, followed by Botswana with 18 percent and South Africa with nine percent.

The European Union was the biggest destination for rough diamond imports, taking in 39 percent of the total in value terms. Most were destined for Antwerp for cutting.

Text and Picture Copyright 2007 AFP. All other Copyright 2007 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.