Kimberley Process Launches New Website

Ambassador Gillian Milovanovic and the entire U.S. team are pleased to announce the official launch of our newly redesigned and reconstructed website, www.kimberleyprocess.com. Thanks to the hard work and support of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the Kimberley Process now has a modern website that can meet our needs:

•On the public side of the website, it has updated information on participants, observers and candidate countries, streamlined data for the public, and a new blog section. You will see a new section on development (and soon one on enforcement), and we will also be looking to Kimberley Process participants and observers to contribute stories about their work for the blog. We've added a link to our new Facebook page, too.

•On the participants-only side (for which new log-on information is forthcoming), we will be working to add new features that make the work of the Kimberley Process and our working groups more efficient, transparent to all in the Kimberley Process, and less reliant on e-mail. We also hope to have the official intersessional registration online there for your use next month.

Like any good website, we expect it to be ever-changing, growing, and increasingly useful to you in your work; as such, we always welcome suggestions to make it more user-friendly or comprehensive. In particular, if you notice information that should be on the public and/or participants-only sections, please send them to us at kpcs.chair-at-state.gov.

In the coming weeks, we will transition from e-mailing documents to posting them on the website directly and simply emailing alerts that the site has been updated. We also expect that the website can begin to be a forum for exchange of information and views among Kimberley Process participants and observers.

We again thank the AWDC for their vision and essential support and we look forward to hearing from you about the new site.

-RAPAPORT