The 2016 CIBJO Congress provided the perfect opportunity for the World Jewellery Confederation to celebrate the 90th anniversary of its founding, confirming the organisation’s status as the longest established representative body serving the the international industry.

Speaking during the Opening Session of the congress that opened today in Yerevan, Armenia, CIBJO’s President, Gaetano Cavalieri, noted the special occasion. “It is a milestone in a journey that began a long time ago in Paris, but only one in a voyage that will continue for another 90 years and more into the future,” he stated.

CIBJO was originally founded in in the French capital in 1926 as BIBOA, an organisation whose mission was to represent and advance the interests of the jewellery trade in Europe. It was restructured in 1961 as CIBJO (Confédération International de la Bijouterie, Joaillerie, Orfèvrerie des Diamants, Perles et Pierres), with a worldwide focus, rather than one which was exclusively European.

To this very day, CIBJO remains the only international body serving all sectors of the jewellery and gemstone sector, in all regions of the world and in all sectors along the chain of distribution. It also is the only industry organisation to be officially recognised by the United Nations, having achieved Special Consultative Status in the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 2006.