The European Commission may approve the trading agreement between Alrosa and De Beers until the end of 2003

The trading agreement on diamonds between the Russian AK ALROSA and the De Beers concern, which is now being examined at the Antimonopoly Commission of the European Commission, can be approved until the end of 2003. This was reported by Prime-Tass with reference to unnamed sources at the International Diamond Conference in Antwerp.

The agreement determines the mechanisms and sizes of sales of Russian unprocessed diamonds of De Beers. Now that the agreement does not apply, each batch of diamonds has to be coordinated separately. The examination of the European Union has been going on for the second year.

Indirectly, the possibility of soon the end of the examination was confirmed in an interview with ITAR-TASS, a member of the top leadership of De Beers Gary Reyf. “The confidence is growing that the positive result is already not far,” he emphasized. "De Beers is extremely interested in this agreement," Reef said.

According to the trading agreement signed on December 17, 2001, Alrosa should supply De Beers Almazov for $ 800 million a year. Accordingly, a five -year contract is estimated at $ 4 billion - this is half the diamonds sold by Alrosa. The second half of the monopolist will sell to Russian robbers. Then they can export diamonds on their own. However, the agreement still has no legal force, as the European Commission recognized its limiting competition.