French experts will evaluate Congo's disputed annual diamond production in the country's bid to rejoin the international group which controls sales of the gems, the government said Saturday.
Experts from the Office of Research Studies on Geological Resources and mines (BERGEM) will arrive in the central African country in the coming days, Mines Minister Pierre Oba told parliament, in a live broadcast on national television.
Congo was excluded in July 2004 from the Kimberley Process, that groups 43 countries and international organizations, after being unable to explain the difference between its small-scale production of 50,000 carats and its exports of three to five million carats.
Its giant neighbour, the Democratic Republic of Congo, alleged that, diamonds smuggled from its territory, Angola or the Central African Republic, made up the difference.
The UN-backed Kimberley process was set up in May 2000 to prevent illegally exported "conflict diamonds" being used to buy arms, according to the EU website.
Members of the Kimberley process have agreed to a certificate system designed to identify the origin of diamonds and guarantee that they are legally exported.
After its exclusion Congo froze its diamond exports and in October announced measures to curb illicit trading.