On behalf of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Russian Federation I would like to greet all the participants and guests of the International Business Conference "Russian Precious Metals and Gemstones Market: actual conditions and prospects".

We highly appreciate the idea of such a conference and consider it to become a significant step, meant to provide appropriate conditions for the development of a civilized domestic market of precious metals and precious stones and to protect the interests of Russian producers of precious metals and jewellery, both on the internal and world markets.

I am convinced that the participants of the Conference will carry out an in-depth scrutiny of the current situation in this sector of economy and, as a result, will bring forward constructive proposals aiming at a more efficient functioning of Russian and international state, commercial, scientific and social institutions, in order to assist the Russian market of precious metals, gemstones and jewellery in its further development.

I wish all the participants of the Conference a successful work and new achievements in their activities.