Botswana’s new president Duma Boko said on Friday he wanted to conclude talks for a new sales pact with global diamonds mining giant De Beers as soon as possible.
“The relationship with De Beers could have been damaged by the way the negotiations were handled,” Boko said in a televised statement from Gaborone, Botswana’s capital. “The first thing that needs to be done is to engage the other party”.
De Beers, a unit of Anglo American, last year agreed a new diamond sales pact, which will see the government’s share of diamonds from the Debswana joint venture gradually increase to 50% over the next decade. The agreement has not been finalized to date.
(By Brian Benza, Felix Njini and Clara Denina; Editing by Mark Potter)
