The Panama Diamond Exchange (PDE), the first and only diamond bourse in Latin America, has been established in Panama City. Its main purpose is to develop a trading hub for the diamond, gemstone and jewellery sectors of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In particular, its founders sought to fill a vacuum in the rapidly expanding regional market, which until then had sourced almost all of its supply outside of Central and South America.

PDE has been created to serve as a trading platform and bi-directional gateway, where suppliers and buyers from North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East could access the fast-growing markets of Latin America, worth in excess of US$8 billion.

Joseph Kuzi, CEO of Diamond Services Ltd Hong Kong, has been appointed Executive Vice President of the PDE, bringing his wealth of experience and perspective of diamond professionals from Asia and Israel. Mr. Kuzi explained: “PDE shares many similarities to the Hong Kong Market. The location of PDE at the southern tip of Central America, within less than five hours’ flying time from any major Latin American or North American city, means members of the regional trade can now tap directly into the international diamond, gemstone and jewelry pipeline, as they would in New York, Antwerp, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Dubai.”

The Government of Panama also introduced legislation, according to which the area of PDE will operate as free zone with special tax and custom status, similar to the Colon Free Zone of the Panama Canal. This puts PDE on a par with the other international diamond and jewellery-trading centres.