.

1. Honorable Ministers, Honorable Deputy Ministers, Ambassador Milovanovic,
Colleagues from Vice-Chair South Africa, from immediate past Chair the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Delegations from Participant Governments,
Esteemed Observer Colleagues from the World Diamond Council, KP Civil
Society Coalition, and Diamond Development Initiative, Distinguished Guests,
Members of the Media, Friends:
Greetings, and thank you for coming to Washington. It is truly my honor to host
you here for the Intersessional Meeting of the Kimberley Process. Although you
have much work to do this week, and Ambassador Milovanovic may not appreciate
my encouraging you to skip working sessions, I do hope that you will take the
opportunity to visit many of the museums, sites, parks, and landmarks that make
this an extraordinary city. Some, like the Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorials, are within easy walking distance. Maybe just wait until the meetings
have concluded.
Last November, under the leadership of KP Chair Mathieu Yamba, who I am
pleased to see here, the Kimberley Process took a number of bold steps. You will
discuss progress on some of these throughout the week, including the critical
decisions regarding the Administrative Support Mechanism and next steps in the
Periodic Review process.
One of the other bold steps taken last November was reaching consensus to ask the
United States to serve as Chair during what all recognized would be a critical year,
a time to move past the recent challenges, to assess the state of the KP as it
approaches its tenth anniversary in 2013, and to cooperate with South Africa as
Vice-Chair.

2. It was also a bold decision for the U.S. to accept the Chairmanship, to take on the
role of consensus-seeker, knowing how critical and how difficult the challenges
ahead would be, and how diverse and deeply held the views are within the KP.
It has not been an easy road for us; normally, a country gets 14 months to prepare
for this task, including a year as Vice-Chair. We instead had less than two months.
Nevertheless, I have ensured that the effort to chair the KP would have the full
support of the U.S. Government. I have rallied the resources needed, including
identifying an extraordinary public servant, Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic, as
Chair and a team to support her. And I am personally grateful to the World
Diamond Council and many within U.S. industry for their assistance in covering
some of the costs that we could not, specifically those costs that will keep you
nourished this week. I hope that everything the team has put together flows
smoothly this week; do not hesitate to let them or me know if there is something
we can do better. In the end, we believe that your work this week and throughout
the rest of the year will demonstrate that the bold step taken in Kinshasa was the
right one for all of us.
My instructions to the team in January were clear: work hard, look forward not
back, and show the world what the KP is and can be. Ambassador Milovanovic
will detail this in her remarks, but so far they have followed through, and you are
well-placed to have a meaningful, detailed – and perhaps tough at times – few
days.
I have worked very hard to make sure that everyone who registered to be here
would be able to attend. Many of you travelled long distances to be here, and we

3. are grateful for your efforts. Finally, I am pleased to see members of the Civil
Society Coalition here today, and to see that the whole KP family is together again,
So now that you are here, it is time to get to work. There is an ambitious agenda
before you this week: conversations about difficult issues, sessions that break with
tradition, opportunities for leadership.
Luckily there are many leaders in the room who I hope will stand up and be
counted. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and ten other governments in the
International Conference of the Great Lakes Region are working right now to
implement a certification system for minerals beyond diamonds; we need to
understand better what they are doing with this system: how they define it, how
they enforce it, and how other industries are working with them. In their thinking
and work, we may well find useful lessons for our own efforts. We are pleased to
welcome the Deputy Executive Secretary of the ICGLR as well.
South Africa, Belgium, the DRC, Ghana, Israel and Namibia have agreed to lead
unique sessions on domestic implementation of the KP on Wednesday. I trust you
will support these leaders with active engagement.
Zimbabwe, the KP Monitoring Team, and local civil society have demonstrated
strong leadership in implementing the Kinshasa Decision, which requires extensive
efforts – and cooperation -- by all. They are now demonstrating how the KP can
successfully address challenges.

4. Finally, the World Diamond Council recently took a bold step in Vicenza, Italy,
when it voiced its support for the discussions to be had this week concerning the
definition of conflict diamond.
These are but a few examples; all of you are leaders in different ways, and we need
each and every one of you to devote those skills to the KP this week and beyond.
The bottom line is that, despite all of the good work and achievements in which the
KP can take pride, it is a fragile system. The demands and expectations of
consumers are high and constantly evolving. We recently marked the conviction
of Charles Taylor with a reminder of the sorrow and destruction that his actions
unleashed, a commitment to prevent such atrocities in the future, and an
understanding that the challenges the diamond sector faces in the future may come
from beyond the likes of such people.
We are convinced that there continues to be a critical need for the KP. The threat
recognized by the world at this time includes, but no longer stops at, rebel leaders.
This requires concerted action by the KP because, though this threat may not apply
now, to any current situation, we see quite clearly that it may in the future. And as
any successful manager knows, if we wait until the future is upon us, it will be too
late.
Do not use this week to identify where the challenges are and say we cannot meet
them, that we must resort to the way things have been and remain divided. Instead,
use this week to seek and adopt ways to agree and achieve. In so doing you will
chart the course to November, and enable us together to show the world that the

5. KP can meet modern challenges, that it is strong, credible, and united. It is a
daunting task, but one I know you can rise to meet.