Speaking in Lisbon, Portugal, early this month, Angolan Natural Resources Minister Diamantino Azevedo stated that his country’s State-owned diamond group Endiama was going to be partially privatised and have some of its equity listed on the stock exchange. He was speaking to the Portuguese news agency Lusa. (Endiama is an acronym for Empresa Nacional de Prospecção , Exploração, Lapidação e Comercialização de Diamantes de Angola – in English, the National Company for the Prospecting, Mining, Polishing and Commercialisation of Diamonds of Angola.) The Minister noted that the role of his Ministry and of the State-owned mining companies was being reformulated. This involved the creation of a mineral resources agency, which would serve as the concessionary and the regulator for the sector. This will relieve Endiama of its concessionary functions (for the diamond sector) and allow some of its shares to be sold on the stock exchange.
