Members from National Gemstone Testing Center (NGTC), Beijing and Gemmological Institute of India (GII), Mumbai, initiated a dialogue during the first meeting in December 2015 to explore the possible areas under technical bilateral cooperation for mutual benefit. Shri Bakul R Mehta, Chairman, GII, has initiated discussion on bilateral collaboration for mutual benefit and continuously guided, reviewed and provided required impetus. A few meetings were held between representatives of GII and NGTC on different occasions and reviewed the progress made. Signing of Letter of Intent (LOI) on 21 st November 2017, signing of implementation of memorandum of cooperation on 15 th September 2018 and signing of AGA (Asia -Pacific Gemstone and Technology Standardisation Alliance” on 28 th February 2019 are important milestones which paved the way for a meeting in BDB, BKC.

After reviewing the progress made thus far, GII proposed in this meeting with NGTC delegation members to move forward by signing an MOU, draft a road map on action plan and modus operandi for effective implementation of MOU. NGTC agreed to the proposal and accepted that an MOU could be drafted for signing on 8 th November 2019 in Shanghai during the “2019 International Jewellery Summit”. It was also mutually agreed that an MOU will be drafted and finalised by exchanging through e communication.

Areas of common interest: Jewellery education, Training exchange programme, Exchange od diamond graders, development of instrument for diamond grading, joint development of other jewellery instruments and a few more in future.

MOU Signing Ceremony :Mr. Ye Zebin, Director, NGTC, Dr. Taijin Lu, Senior Scientist, NGTC, and a few more from NGTC, China, and Mr. Anup Zaveri, Managing Trustee and Dr. A.V.R Reddy, CEO from GII Mumbai, and Mr. Pramod Kumar Agarwal, Chairman and Anurag Kumar, GJEPC, Mumbai, India participated in the MOU signing ceremony in NGTC, Shnghai branch, Shanghai, China.

Prior to the ceremony, all members were taken on a guided tour of the laboratories and observed their working environment and procedures from sample receiving to testing to certification. The ceremony started with Ms. Je Kie, President, AGA and Deputy Director, NGTC welcoming the participants. Mr. Ye Zebin explained importance of signing the MOU.He was happy with multilateral cooperation in the form of AGA and bilateral cooperations with other institutions. He was happy that the MOU between GII and NGTC includes coherent objectives and definite plans to execute them. He was confident that it will bring the desired results for mutual benefits.

Mr. Anup Zaveri felt that both will be benefited as the outcome would be synergistic. He told that “GII and NGTC already identified the areas that are common to both the institutes to work under this MoU, namely imparting quality education, quality training, reliable grading, harmonised joint certification and development of instrumentation. It is gratifying that both the institutes worked at a rapid pace to make an MoU and is ready for the “signing”. QA/QC and Joint certification, developing reliable instruments for testing and colour grading are some of the areas that need urgent attention to move forward. I may add here that Foundation of AGA, in the morning is another good beginning for expanding in global domain. I am glad that as Managing Trustee of GII, I am on the Board of Directors as well Dr. Reddy, CEO, GII is Director, Technical commission, and assure that all support will be extended to AGA activities”.

Mr. Pramod Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, GJEPC explained about global market scenario and told that the need of the hour was developing a joint certification by ustilising expertise from both the institutes. He urged that both NGTC and GII are good at R&D and developed a few instruments of global standard. He assured full support to GII, which is a project of GJEPC and look forward to contribute to industry. Meeting was concluded with the signing of MOU by Mr. Ye Zebin and Mr. Anupo Zaveri. Agreed modus operandi is described in the following. Modus Operandi of MOU:

NGTC and GII have jointly decided that they will cooperate in the above mentioned activities as follows: Displaying signed copies of MOU by Mr. Ye Zebin, Director, NGTC and Mr. Anup Zaveri, Managing Trustee, GII. Dr. Taijin Lu, Sr Scientist, NGTC, Ms. Ke Jie, President, AGA, P.K. Agarwal, Chairma, GJEPC, A.V.R. Reddy, CEO, GII are also seen standing behind.

Jewelry education & training cooperation: One or two faculty members will be exchanged to each other institutions for training and business exchanges (depending on the progress of exchanges) to deepen trust and understanding and jointly develop the training and education market.

Exchange of diamond graders: Both NGTC and GII agreed to exchange 1-2 diamond graders to each other for a week. These employees can conduct some networking seminars during the NGTC and GII training exchanges.

Joint certification: Both will carry out the harmonization of diamond grading standards and the uniform testing of laboratory processes and rules for gems, diamonds and diamond jewellery under the unified framework of the Asia-Pacific Gemstone and Technology Standardization Alliance (AGA). NGTC and GII can provide samples for testing.

Development of the instrument for diamond colour grading: In the past three years, the two sides are jointly developing a method for color grading of Cape series diamonds based on infrared spectroscopy and have conducted some discussions and experimental work, agreeing to jointly develop a color grading instrument after conducting sufficient measurements.

Joint development of other jewelry-related instrument: The parties will use the experience in the above projects to jointly explore other jewelry-related instrument.

Comments by Mr. B R Mehta, Chairman, GII Mr. Bakul R Mehta, Chairman, GII, feels that signing MOU is a requirement to move forward. Developing equipment for colour grading is an important challenging target for both GII and NGTC. Conceiving and developing joint certification by NGTC and GII need to be given top priority. Chairman wishes that progress through this MOU will fulfil many objectives emphasised in MOU and many more in the years to come.