The Belgian government has decided to permit the diamond sector to employ foreign polishers and sorters, a move that will help it grow and take advantage of its deal with the US for tariff-free imports.
The government changed its policy amid the current shortage of those types of workers in the country, and the need for skilled professionals to keep Antwerp as a competitive international diamond hub, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) said Saturday. Foreign workers can apply for a combined work and residence permit without first having to demonstrate that there is a shortage in the local labor market, AWDC explained.
The measure is particularly important to “remain competitive as a diamond-trading center,” said AWDC CEO Karen Rentmeesters. “Our companies must be able to hire diamond polishers and sorters from outside Europe quickly and easily, and this decision now makes that possible.”
The move also allows Antwerp to take advantage of a deal reached in September between the AWDC and the US government whereby natural diamonds polished in the European Union will no longer be subject to tariffs upon import into America. Antwerp, which is now the only major trading hub with tariff-free imports to the US, currently exports about $2.1 billion in polished diamonds there annually.
“Companies want to have their rough stones polished here to benefit from that zero tariff — but to offer them that possibility, we naturally need enough polishers,” Rentmeester added. “Measures such as this also enhance the competitiveness of our diamond companies. They create a more attractive business climate, increasing the likelihood that companies and trade flows choose Antwerp.”
Image: Rough diamonds. (Shutterstock)