Azernews.Az

By Arslan Abbasov

The world's leading diamond company, De Beers, plans to open its first store in Azerbaijan in early 2013.

The De Beers Diamonds Jewellers Store, which is due to open in February, will be located at the Neftchiler Avenue 12 in the capital Baku.

Ahead of the store opening, De Beers held an exclusive seminar, "The insider's guide to diamonds", hosted by the company's expert David Watling, at the newly opened Four Season Hotel in Baku last week.

With a peerless heritage, that spans over 120 years, De Beers' unique passion and expertise in creating jewellery with the world's most beautiful diamonds is unrivalled. Through this seminar guests were taken on a journey to discover the timeless mystique and sublime beauty of De Beers diamonds, and the wondrous artistry of De Beers' unique designs, including the stunning Arpeggia High Jewellery Collection.

At De Beers, the proud heritage complements the innate legacy of diamonds older than time; the meticulous selection of exceptional diamonds and expertise in creating jewellery brings De Beers' passion for diamonds to life.

"De Beers rejects many more diamonds than we select because they lack the inner 'Fire', 'Life' and 'Brilliance' that we require," David Watling said. "The most important factor is how a diamond looks and the way it excites your eye, brain, and heart. At De Beers we hand select every diamond for its unique beauty."

Nasib Piriyev, co-owner of the PNN Group, said that the newly established cooperation between globally acclaimed jeweller - De Beers - and his family makes him feel proud and excited.

"De Beers has been a symbol of quality and integrity for over 120 years and for the last 20 years our company has been actively promoting the same values in flourishing markets throughout our region and in Azerbaijan," he said. "We look forward to building the De Beers brand in Azerbaijan to meet the growing demand of the new generation of Baku consumers for products of superlative quality."

De Beers, established in 1888, is the world's leading diamond company with unrivalled expertise in the exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds. Together with the joint venture partners, De Beers employs approximately 16,000 people in operations around the world.

De Beers has a worldwide presence with stores located on Old Bond Street in London, Fifth Avenue in New York, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Shin Kong Place in Beijing, The Landmark in Hong Kong and Ginza in Tokyo.

In the countries in which De Beers has mining operations, this means carrying out profitable business, while simultaneously helping governments achieve their aspirations of turning natural resources into shared national wealth. De Beers encourages sustainable working to ensure long-term positive development for Africa, and returns more than $3 billion to the continent every year.

At peak levels De Beers produces about 50 million carats annually, mostly from its Debswana operations, the world's highest producing mine.

De Beers is owned by South African resources giant Anglo American (85%) and the Botswana government (15%).