Antwerp, 22 July, 2008 : The Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) has announced that the Fifth Antwerp Diamond Conference will take place in Antwerp on November 17 and 18, 2008. This year’s conference will focus on the value of the diamond in all its facets.%%Considered by many to be the most important event of its type in the diamond industry, the 2008 Antwerp Diamond Conference will specifically examine the element of value in the diamond brand. It will consider the subject from the broadest possible perspective, looking at the diamond as a symbol of the primary human values of love and commitment, as an item that requires the business to be operated according to strict ethical values and as an item of significant monetary value.%%“The passion that the diamond elicits among jewellery consumers is very much associated with various elements of value,” explained Freddy J. Hanard, CEO of the AWDC, the conference organizer. “And what makes them particularly interesting is that almost none of them are constant. They are persistently changing, because of market conditions, evolving consumer trends and tastes, and conditions in the producing and consuming countries. To create brand equity for the diamond and then defend that brand, it is imperative that we understand the process.”%%In the years since it was first started, the Antwerp Diamond Conference has become one the most important events on the diamond and jewellery industry’s annual calendar, attracting speakers of the calibre of former U.S. Vice-President Al Gore and Botswana President Festus Mogae (2002), President Bill Clinton (2003), South-African President Thabo Mbeki (2004) and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and social activist Bob Geldof (2007).