A special meeting of the Kimberley Process Working Group on Monitoring (WGM) that took place in Brussels, Belgium last week ended with a tentative draft agreement on Zimbabwe's diamond exports that remains to be approved by some governments, one participant reported.

Early reports from Brussels said that participants had agreed "with some reservations" to a modified version of the Jerusalem Agreement from the Kimberley Process Plenary Session, held in Jerusalem from November 1-4 but which ended without any consensus on Zimbabwe's diamonds.

No representatives of the Zimbabwe government or its diamond industry took part in the WGM meeting in Brussels, although according to some reports the government was keeping abreast of events via another national delegation.

Zimbabwe maintains the position that it has a right to resume rough diamond exports immediately and without any preconditions, and insists that it has complied fully with all Kimberley Process demands regarding diamond mining at the Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields.

If the Brussels version of the Jerusalem Agreement passes, the Kimberley Process chair will present it to Zimbabwe. Once Zimbabwe signs off on the agreement, it will bring the country closer to full exports of rough diamonds.