Eli Izhakoff

[3] During his term as WFDB president his played an instrumental role the expansion of the federation, and oversaw the establishment of new diamond bourses in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, China, Russia and India.

It began with a conference in Moscow, and continued with a tour of various mining sites in the Republic of Sakha, during which its president, Mikhail Yefimovich Nikolayev, presented awards of recognition to Izhakoff, Nicholas Oppenheimer and Gary Ralfe of De Beers, and Maurice Tempelsman of Lazare Kaplan International.

Izhakoff had earlier invited the Kimberley Process to hold a mini-summit in St. Petersburg alongside the World Diamond Council, in a further attempt to reach agreement over Marange.

[12] Just prior to the WDC Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Zimbabwe had released from custody Farai Maguwu, a local human rights activist who it earlier had been accused of providing false information prejudicial to the state in connection with the Marange diamond fields.

In book he later contributed to about the period, Maguwu credited Izhakoff for helping obtain his release from custody and convincing the Zimbabwe authorities to drop the charges against him.

[14] In 2014, Izhakoff was invited to assist in the development of a major project in the Republic of Panama, the goal of which was to establish the first dedicated diamond, colored gemstone and jewelry trading center in Latin America.