On October 22, 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing India Ltd. (SRDSIL) and the Government of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe. The MoU provides for the supply of rough diamonds directly from Zimbabwe worth about US $100 million every month to the SRDSIL; in turn the Indian Diamond Institute of Surat will train 1000 Zimbabwean citizens in batches of 100 at a time.

SRSDIL has said that it will further distribute the diamonds it receives through tenders held monthly. The MoU was initially discussed and drawn up during the visit of a delegation led by Zimbabwe’s Mining Minister Obert Mpofu to Surat. The visit followed the Minister’s participation in the Mines to Market 2010 Conference held in Mumbai. The Zimbabwe delegation was impressed by Surat, the leading global diamond cutting and polishing hub, and the manufacturing facilities in the city. %% The supply of rough will commence once Zimbabwe is cleared for exports by KP. The Review Mission’s report is to be presented following the two initial exports cleared by KP and made earlier this year. The report and the final fate of Zimbabwe’s exports of Marange goods is expected to be discussed at the forthcoming KP Plenary being held in November in Jerusalem.