India will work with Afghanistan to develop its nascent marble industry after traders from the marble-rich country showcased their products at a recently concluded trade-expo in Jaipur and signed deals worth USD 12 million.
Centre for Development of Stones (CDOS), a premier institution for development of stone industry in India, will help local Afghan businesses in skill and capacity development in the stone cutting and polishing sector, an Indian Embassy statement said here.
The statement comes following inking of deals worth millions of dollars between the marble traders of the two countries, during the recently concluded India Stone Mart 2015 (January 29-February 1) in Jaipur.
Afghan traders have signed deals worth USD 12 million with their Indian counterparts, the statement said, adding that two Afghan businesses also identified machineries for cutting and polishing of marble from Rajasthan Udyog.
One of India's largest marble producers is also keen to buy as much marble as can be supplied by the Afghan businesses, the statement said.
In addition, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), ATAR and Afghan Marble Association have planned a capacity building programme for Afghan Marble Industry with assistance from UK AID and USAID.
Afghanistan, according to recent geological and GPS surveys, sits on vast deposits of marble and granite stones and has a huge potential for growth in the marble industry, that has already been growing by over 60 per cent annually since 2008.
US Geological Survey estimated the war-torn Afghanistan's marble reserve to the tune of USD 200 billion.
Despite having marble reserves of over 9 billion tons, the Afghanistan marble industry is still at a nascent stage and modern excavation techniques are not in vogue, primarily due to lack of favourable enabling environment, security situation and lack of information to potential investors.
