GIA Opens Lab in Israel
August 22, 12 by IDEX Online Staff Reporter
(IDEX Online News) – GIA (Gemological Institute of America) will open a new laboratory in Israel in early September. The new facility will provide diamond grading reports, diamond dossiers and related services.
The new GIA facility in Israel's diamond sector in Ramat Gan is the eighth GIA laboratory and the sixth outside the U.S.
“Israel has long been a center for the global diamond trade,” said GIA president and CEO Donna Baker. “We hope that having direct access to GIA diamond grading services in Israel will support the success of Israeli companies.”
"The opening of the GIA facility is of major significance to the Israeli Diamond Industry and advances our position as a global diamond trading hub” said Moti Ganz, Chairman of IDI.
The opening follows three years of discussion and planning. A number of Israelis lobbied GIA, including Ganz, IsDMA President Bumi Traub and Elliot Tannenbaum, senior principal of the Leo Schachter Diamond Group.
According to Traub, "Having a GIA lab facility on-site in Israel will save the diamond trade both precious time and costs.” Currently Israeli traders ship their goods to the U.S. for grading at GIA.
