President Robert Mugabe today said Zimbabwe will continue using the Dubai Diamond Exchange to sell its diamonds following the successful auctioning of 380 626.24 carats for US$29.3 million last month. Zimbabwe sold 959 931 carats for US$70 million at the Antwerp World Diamond centre in February. Although Antwerp promised better prices than any other market, it turned out that Dubai is offering better prices. The average price at Dubai was US$76.91 cents per carat while that at Antwerp was US$72.96 per carat and not US$80 mentioned by AWDC chief executive Ari Epstein when he visited Harare. Mugabe said Zimbabwe was going to use Dubai because: “You do not have the evil heart of Europe…We want to be partners in trade. We want partners who regard us as human beings, partners who share our misfortunes and appreciate that we want to develop also in the same way that we appreciate their own development”.
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