A/RES/57/302 Recognizing that State sovereignty should be fully respected and the principles of equality, mutual benefits and consensus should be adhered to, Welcoming the Interlaken Declaration, which successfully launched the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, 1. Notes with appreciation the report of the Chair of the Kimberley Process1 submitted pursuant to resolution 56/263, and congratulates the Governments, and the representatives of the regional economic integration organizations, the organized diamond industry and civil society participating in the Kimberley Process, on having finalized the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme; 2. Recognizes that the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme can help to ensure the effective implementation of relevant resolutions of the Security Council containing sanctions on the trade in conflict diamonds, and calls for full implementation of existing Council measures targeting the illicit trade in rough diamonds that play a role in fuelling conflict; 3. Strongly supports the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme presented in the form of the document entitled “Kimberley Process Certification Scheme”; 4. Notes the commitment made at the Kimberley Process ministerial meeting on 5 November 2002 to ensure that measures taken to implement the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for rough diamonds will be consistent with international trade rules;3 5. Welcomes the decision to implement the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme from 1 January 2003; 6. Also welcomes the decision to collate and disseminate relevant statistical data on the production of and international trade in rough diamonds, as a tool for effective implementation; 7. Stresses that the widest possible participation in the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme is essential and should be encouraged and facilitated, and urges all Member States to participate actively in the Certification Scheme; 8. Welcomes the willingness expressed by the Government of South Africa to chair the Kimberley Process during its first year of implementation; 9. Requests the Chair of the Kimberley Process to present to the General Assembly at its fifty-eighth session a report on the implementation of the process; 10. Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its fifty-eighth session the item entitled “The role of diamonds in fuelling conflict”. 83rd plenary meeting 15 April 2003 _______________ 3 Ibid., para. 3. 3