On 4 September 2026 the centenary congress of the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO) opened at the Fiera di Vicenza, Italy, and runs to 7 September. It is hosted by Italian Exhibition Group during the VICENZAORO show. The Opening Ceremony, held in the Palladium Theatre, was addressed by CIBJO President Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, Italian Enterprise Minister Adolfo Urso and Italian Exhibition Group President Maurizio Ermeti.
CIBJO was founded in Paris in 1926 as BIBOA, representing the European jewellery trade, and was restructured in 1961 as a global confederation. It is the oldest organisation of its kind. Its members are not individuals but representative associations and commercial bodies — national and international trade organisations from more than 45 countries, together with corporations and service providers — and its remit runs vertically from mine to marketplace and horizontally within each producing and trading centre.
CIBJO is organised in three sectors, one of which covers precious metals, and its active commissions include a Precious Metals Commission. Its Blue Book system sets harmonised international standards and nomenclature, with an edition for precious metals alongside those for diamonds, coloured stones, pearls, gem laboratories and coral. In 2006 CIBJO became the first and only organisation in the diamond, gemstone and jewellery sectors to receive official consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and it joined the UN Global Compact the same year. All Confederation bodies — the General Assembly of Delegates, the Board of Directors and the commissions — gather at the annual congress, where amendments to the Blue Books are introduced.
The 2026 congress has been declared the Centenary Congress and marks 100 years since CIBJO’s establishment in 1926. Its agenda covers international standards, consumer confidence, responsible sourcing and supply-chain sustainability. CIBJO last held its congress in Vicenza in 2012.
The congress programme includes a session on responsible sourcing among IPMI precious metals refiners. The International Precious Metals Institute, of which Golden Ark Reserve is a member, was founded in 1976 and marks its own fiftieth anniversary in 2026; it reports more than 600 members worldwide across refining, trading, recycling, mining and manufacturing.
The leadership of Golden Ark Reserve took part in the opening ceremony at the invitation of Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri. For the company, participation in the centenary congress is an opportunity to engage in professional dialogue with the international precious metals and jewellery community.
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