Ficci meet on stones in Jaipur

Building on the resounding success of Stonemart 2005, the Centre of Development for Stones (CDOS) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have once again come together to organise an international conference "Global Stone Technology Forum" during December 15-16.

Leading experts from round the world are expected to participate in the forum. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will inaugurate the conference, while Industries Minister Narpat Singh Rajvi will preside over the function and Mines Minister Laxmi Narayan Dave will be the guest of honour.

The two-day forum, the first of its kind on stones in the country, aims to provide a platform to discuss the best global practices and technologies for dimensional stone quarrying, processing and finishing, marble waste disposal and utilisation, testing standardisation and quality certification, use of stone in modern buildings, etc.

The forum will bring together internationally renowned experts in the stone industry, and will be structured into two sub groups""the stone masters' conclave and the stone users' conclave.

In the stone masters' conclave, leading experts in the international stone industry will participate, like R Veeramani, chairman, granite panel, Capexil; Henry Lloyd of the Marble Institute of America; and Paola Blasi of IMM Carrara, Italy.

During the stone users' conclave, renowned architects like Raj Rewal, Uttam C Jain, Kulbhushan Jain, Nimish Patel, Christopher Benninger, Deepak Gehlot, Marcantonio Ragone of Italy, Paolo Marone of Italy, K Jaisim, Jai Gopal and other leading experts will discuss issues pertaining to the uses of stone like its architectural value, preservation and restoration of stones, and global best practices of using stones in modern buildings.

A large number of delegates comprising chief executives of stone sector companies, policy makers, architects and civil engineers and builders like the Heeranandani group of Mumbai, Kalpataru Construction, Ansals, Unitech, and Vatika are participating in the event.

Concurrent with the forum, a technology exposition and catalogue show will also be organised, where new varieties of stones and latest technologies will be unveiled.