Gaetano Cavalieri, President CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation

One of the most prominent leaders in the international jewellery industry today, Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri has served for more than 20 years as president of CIBJO, The World Jewellery Confederation. Uniting national jewellery and gemstone associations from more than 40 countries around the world, and also includes many of the industry’s major international corporations and international representative associations, CIBJO is the industry’s oldest international organization in jewellery sector, having originally been established in 1926. It covers the entire jewellery, gemstone and precious metals sectors vertically, from mine to marketplace, and horizontally within each of the component sectors in the various production,manufacturing and trading centres. As president of CIBJO, Dr. Cavalieri was responsible in July 2006 for the organization receiving “Special Consultative Status” with United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), making it the first and only jewellery and gemstone representative to be officially recognized by the international body. Together with the United Nations, he established the World Jewellery Confederation Education Foundation (WJCEF), which is responsible for promoting Corporate Social Responsibility education in the international jewellery and gemstone industries. In addition to being president of CIBJO, Dr. Cavalieri has served as president of the Italian Federation of Gold, Silver and Jewellery Wholesalers, has been a member of the International Executive Council of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), a member of the Goldsmiths’ Company of London, a member of the European Assay Association, a member of the International Coloured Gemstone Association (ICA), and chief financial officer of the World Diamond Council.

Dr. Cavalieri was a consultant to the Italian Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Welfare, and to the European Economic Commission in the areas of harmonization of standards and value added tax (VAT) on gold. He is a consultant to trade fair organizers across Europe specializing in the luxury industries, was chief of the International Relations Office of Confcommercio (Italian General Trade Organization), a delegate to the Commission of Foreign Trade, a member of the board of the Italian Trade Commission, and an Italian representative to the World Trade Organization and the Transatlantic Business Dialogue.