New Int’l Stone Group Debuts
Officials of several stone exporting companies announced the World Natural Stone Association (WONASA) on Sept. 29 at the VeronaFiere site that hosts Marmomacc.
WONASA organizers noted that the missions of the new group are:
• Promoting and increasing the use of natural stone in the world markets;
• Educating the stone industry and society of the positive features and advantages of natural stones, a natural green product;
• Identifing the new challenges facing the industry in the globalised, modern world, and developing solutions for facing them;
• Encouraging new ideas, technology and exchange of information relevant to the natural-stone industry in a mutually, beneficial way;
• Interacting with international organizations and different government authorities, when necessary, with the objective of promoting the natural-stone industry and encouraging industry friendly proactive policies; and
• Ensuring eco-friendly sustainable mining with full safety standards.
Membership to the association is by invitation; the group’s statutes stipulate that members from any one country can’t exceed 25 percent of the total membership, so as to maintain the international character of the association.
A series of events and other promotional activities in different countries are planned, with details to be announced later. Other activities, such as development of a multi-lingual website aimed at the final consumer, are already underway.
R. Veeramani of India’s Gem Granites is WONASA’s initial president, with three other exporter representatives – Jose Antonio Guidoni of Mineracao Guidoni Ltda in Brazil, John Petter Gundersen of Lundhs in Norway and Medhat Mustafa Attia Ramdan of Egypt – serving as vice presidents.
Paulo Lucio Florio Giafrov of DGG Assessorio Ltda in Brazil is the joint secretary, with Kaliannan.C of Metal Management Services P Ltd in India serving as general secretary.
Organizers noted that the association resulted from two-and-a-half years of meetings between stone-industry business figures worldwide, with meetings during the past year with representatives from Europe, Asia, Mediteranean countries and the United States. (However, U.S. industry and media representatives at Marmomacc expressed surprise at the group’s formation, receiving little or no information about the announcement beforehand.)
The headquarters of the association has been registered in Chennai, India. For more information, contact wonasaindia@gmail.com
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