Canada announces additional ban on imports of Russian diamonds

Ottawa, March 2:  Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly has said that Canada is imposing additional import restrictions on Russian diamonds.

This ban further builds on Canada's December 2023 import restrictions on diamonds and diamond-jewellery-related products from Russia by targeting indirect imports of Russian diamonds weighing 1 carat and above, Joly said on Friday in a statement.

It is consistent with the commitments made in February, May and December 2023 by the G7 leaders to reduce the revenues from the export of non-industrial diamonds from Russia, she added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

According to the statement, Russia is the world's largest rough diamond producer and also a significant global exporter of diamonds and diamond products.

The value of Russia's total exports exceeded nearly 5.2 billion Canadian dollars ($3.8 billion) in 2022.

Together, G7 countries represent 70 per cent of the world diamond market, the statement added.