HRD Antwerp NV will be a key participant in the Antwerp Diamond Pavilion at the Jewelry Shanghai 2008 trade show. It is the first time that an Antwerp Diamond Pavilion is featuring at a show on the Chinese mainland.

Jewelry Shanghai 2008, being held May 8 – 11 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, will feature about 1,100 booths in 23,000 square metres of exhibition space. It is organized by a group of leading Chinese gemstone and jewelry organizations, including the Gems & Jewellery Trade Association of China, the National Gems & Jewellery Technology Administrative Centre, the Shanghai Gold Exchange, the Shanghai Diamond Exchange, the Shanghai Gold & Jewellery Trade Association, the Shenzhen Gold Jewellery Association, and the Shanghai Gem and Jade Association.

The HRD Antwerp will be located at Stand 1H58 in the Antwerp Diamond Pavilion.

This is busy time for the Shanghai diamond industry. Immediately following the trade show, on May 13-15, it will host the 33rd World Diamond Congress, which is being held at the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel. On May 14, Georges Brys, general manager of HRD Antwerp, will address a joint session of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond Manufacturers Association. The title of his presentation is “A Blueprint for Quality,” and in it he will describe how the HRD Antwerp – Diamond Lab became the first diamond grading facility ever to be accredited according to standards of the International Standards Organization (ISO/IEC 17025).

“We see tremendous potential in the Shanghai diamond market,” Brys said. “Not only is the city the site of China’s only diamond exchange, but Shanghai’s jewelry retail sector represents about 20 percent of total jewelry sales in China.”

HRD Antwerp provides grading, gemmological, educational, technological, and research services to the international diamond and jewelry industries.

JCK