(MENAFN- Emirates News Agency (WAM)) Maryam Al Hashemi who manages the UAE Kimberley Process, is the first Emirati women to check all the rough diamonds entering the UAE to ensure they are ethically sourced. She believes that being a woman helped rather than hindered her success.
"As the first Emirati woman to represent the UAE diamond sector, I have played a vital role in building relationships between government entities and the diamond trading community," she told the UAE daily, The National.
"The vision of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultal Al Nahyan, the founding President of the UAE, who believed in empowering women, had helped women across the Emirates to achieve their goals," she added.
"I meet people from all around the world and they are all amazed at how the country promotes UAE women, and they admire and respect that," she said, adding, "UAE women are already strong role models and ambassadors across both public and private sectors".
As the Director of the UAE Kimberley Process, 36-year-old Maryam says the role is a serious one.
The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme was created by the United Nations General Assembly to stop the trade in conflict diamonds and to ensure that diamonds do not come from conflict or human rights abuses.
The KPCS came into force in 2003, when participating countries started to implement its rules. The KPCS was adopted in the UAE in that same year by the Ministry of Economy, making the UAE the first Arab country to introduce it, and the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority the only entry and exit point for rough diamonds in the country.
Ms. Al Hashemi began work in the newly-formed DMCC in 2003 after completing her Higher Colleges of Technology Diploma at Dubai Women's College. She is now one of its longest-serving employees.
"It was not just plain sailing when we opened the doors to the KPCS in the UAE, as the Kimberley Process itself had just been introduced to the world," she said. "But everybody faces challenges. This is how you learn, how new opportunities arise and how you ultimately break through the mould to achieve your goals. As with any-thing new to a marketplace or industry, prudent leadership, smart services and ease of doing business have contributed to facilitating trade and to position the UAE among the top 10 leading diamond centres in the world within the first three years of operation, but we did not stop there. Today Dubai has positioned itself as one of the three largest diamond trading hubs in the world." Ms. Al Hashemi, who is from Dubai, still wants to achieve more, saying, "A key aspiration for me is to make the UAE the major diamond trading centre in the world. I don't want to aspire to anything less than first place." Her advice to other women striving for a prominent place in the business world is to never give up, adding, "Do not let energy go to waste by getting disappointed if you do not achieve your goals immediately."
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