The Gemological Institute of America will open the first of its new GIA Laboratory Service Centers in Hong Kong on March 8 with a grand opening reception, ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house.

Thomas M. Moses, senior vice president – GIA Research and Laboratory, will host the event. Other participants will be Sheryl Cashmore, manager of the new Laboratory Service Center; Ken Scarratt, director of Research, GIA Laboratory, Bangkok; and laboratory clients, GIA alumni, and the media.

“The purpose of the new Laboratory Service Centers is to bring the Institute’s Laboratory services closer to customers throughout the world,” Moses said in a statement. “Expanding the number of take-in centers and making GIA services more easily accessible should help reduce overall shipping and turn-around times for customers.”

Moses said the service centers will complement the GIA LabDirect consolidator network the Institute announced last August.

The ribbon-cutting will take place promptly at 11 a.m. when local tradition holds the timing to be the most auspicious. The doors will open at 10:30 a.m. and the event will end at 2:00 p.m.

The Laboratory Service Center in Hong Kong is in the same building as the GIA Hong Kong international school.

JCK