I think you have to put it in context, Mr. Speaker. Up until recently, the De Beers group of companies controlled approximately 80 percent of the world's diamonds. As you know, there was a bit of a blip the last year or so with respect to the Russian diamonds. In my discussions with De Beers recently in London, England, Sir Oppenheimer indicated to me they were going to make an arrangement with the Russians. I believe they have done that.
It is important to understand that where the companies sell the diamonds really is a reflection of the kinds of value added or tax concessions that you can make. In Botswana, I was speaking to Mr. Gallatti, who is the general manager of Depswana, which is a joint venture, who is also the former Finance Minister of the Government of Botswana. He indicated to me that one of the ways in which he took his royalty and tax regime was through what he called diamonds in kind. In other words, he took about 20 percent production. Based on that, he created a subsidiary industry by creating some value added components to the diamond industry.
I think it would be fair to say the industry was not enamoured with his position, but that is the position he took. That did create a variety of other jobs outside of the sorting of diamonds for marketing and valuation purposes. Does that answer the question? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.