CIBJO, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the City of Antwerp have announced at the 2011 CIBJO Congress in Porto, Portugal, that a UNITAR-affiliated training center for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Jewellery and diamond industry will be formally declared in Antwerp on May 23, 2011.

"Centres of Excellence" aim to advance the UN's social and economic development goals. To date, most of the Centres of Excellence linked to the UN have been national or regional, but the Antwerp facility is planned to address the needs of the business sector worldwide.   The City of Antwerp is making available a building in the Antwerp old city, which will serve the CSR educational programme. The Centre of Excellence is an initiative of CIBJO, the World Jewellery Confederation, and the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF).   Officially supported by the Flemish Government, the center will work also closely with HRD Antwerp, the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC) and the Fonds voor de Diamantnijverheid, a body that unites the Antwerp employer and employee organizations active in the diamond industry.   “On behalf of the City of Antwerp, I am delighted to host such a Centre of Excellence, not only because of the added value it brings Antwerp, but because it emphasizes Antwerp's leadership role in CSR, both in the diamond jewelry industry and in the business community at large," stated Ludo Van Campenhout, Antwerp's vice mayor with responsibility for diamonds.