The United States Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, has visited the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum, duringa visit to the Israel Diamond Exchange in Ramat Gan.

Shapiro was welcome to the museum by Yair Sahar, President of the Israel Diamond Exchange, and Eli Avidar, Managing Director of the Israel Diamond Institute, together with a number of dignitaries in the Israeli diamond sector.

As part of the tour of the diamond museum, Shapiro was given a detailed explanation of the journey that a diamond takes from the moment it is mined to when it is set in a piece of jewelry.

Members of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) elected Yair Sahar, the chief executive of Sahar Atid, as its new president.

”The diamond exchange is one of the important pillars of the Israeli economy,” Sahar said. “I will do all that I can to ensure that Israel remains a global center for the diamond trade.”

He stressed that among his goals as president would be to strengthen diamond manufacturing in the country.

Sahar, who has served as senior vice president of IDE and as chairman of the finance committee at the Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association (IsDMA).

Sahar Atid is a diamond manufacturing company with about 40 employees in Israel and abroad.

The company buys rough diamonds from De Beers Diamond Trading Company (DTC) and Harry Winston and received recognition in 2009 as an “outstanding” exporter.