The 2011 World Federation of Diamond Bourses Presidents' Meeting opened Monday in Dubai and runs through Wednesday, April 13.

The opening session is scheduled to address the role of Dubai in the global diamond industry and feature a presentation by diamond industry analyst Chaim Even Zohar entitled "The Post-Crisis Diamond Pipeline: Outlooks and Forecasts in Supply, Demand, and the Development of Future Markets."

Prior to the conference, WFDB President Avi Paz said he hoped that the presidents of all 29 member diamond exchanges would attend the Dubai meeting, noting that the WFDB existed to "protect and guard the ethical standards on which our industry in founded."

This year's president's meeting is also slated to include an African Leaders Summit, in which mining ministers from Africa's leading diamond producing nations are expected to participate. The complicated issue of Zimbabwe's diamond exports is also expected to have a prominent place on the meeting's agenda, and last week news outlets reported that a Zimbabwe delegation would be attending.