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De Beer, Russia

starts new round

of talks

MOSCOW: Russia's biggest diamond producer Almazy Rossii Sakha and South African group De Beers DBRS.J renewed discussions on Wednesday aimed at working out a new marketing deal for Russian stones, De Beers officials said.

"We are holding general discussions on matters of drafting the new agreement," said Raymond Clark, De Beers' Moscow representative.

"This is not what you call a plenary meeting, but both sides are anxious to sign the deal as soon as possible," Clark said.

The South African company and the Russian government signed a memorandum of understanding on February 23 governing sales of Russian diamonds through De Beers' London-based Central Selling Organisation, or CSO, which controls about 75 percent of the world trade in rough gems.

The memorandum, under which De Beers becomes the exclusive buyer of all rough Russian diamond exports, still needs to be worked out into a formal contract.

A statement on Wednesday from Almazy Rossii Sakha said the two sides had held their first round of discussions last week. No further details were available.-Reuter