MILAN: Following the launch of new website www.sustainablejewellery.org, the CIBJO has reached an understanding with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations to coordinate educational programmes that will assist in the creation of viable and sustainable jewellery industries in developing countries.

Speaking on the occasion, the CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri said, “The launch of the sustainable jewellery website is only a first step in a series of activities CIBJO intends to initiate and coordinate in countries that are interested in setting up a sustainable and responsible jewellery industry.”

He also observed, "When we convened in Geneva in October, we were invited, under the auspices of the UN Development Programme and with the encouragement and support of ECOSOC, to become a pivotal factor in initiating, advancing, coordinating and supporting education projects that will help get budding, sustainable jewellery industry projects on their way. There is a long way to go, but CIBJO, in cooperation with all its associate members and their respective initiatives can surely make a lasting contribution to these efforts."

At the Geneva meeting, where CIBJO members were hosted by ECOSOC for a day-long seminar on social and corporate responsibility, CIBJO Presidential Council member James Evans Lombe gave a survey of initiatives that are already in place or under development in the jewellery industry at large, many of them with direct contribution from members and associate members of CIBJO. Among others, he reported on progress made in the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices www.responsiblejewellery.org and the Diamond Development Initiative (http://blooddiamond.pacweb.org/ddi/). "These programmes, while run under their own, separate banners, all share common aims such as improving the livelihoods of the millions of people who are working in the jewellery supply chain. These principles are shared by CIBJO, its many constituents and associate members," he concluded.