Afristone was formed after an eventful launch, which take place in
Accra, Ghana from 25 to 27 June 2002. The maiden meeting brought together
entrepreneurs in the dimension stone industry from various parts of
the African continent.The meeting in Accra, Ghana came down in the
records of Afristone, as the first General Assembly of the Association.
Bearing in mind that togetherness leads to strength, the Centre for
the Development of Enterprise of the European Union and some African
Dimension Stone promoters initiated the idea of an African Association,
during the Carrara Fair of 1995, where CDE had invited a dozen Dimension
Stone Companies to promote their products, to liaise directly with
their European fellow operators and to witness the development of
both market and technology.It took sevelar initiative by the CDE,
including the Accra Mining Forum of 1998 and the Lusaka Forum of 2000,
as well as International Fairs (Carrara, Verona, Nürnberg, Madrid)
and professional workshops (Borba, Dublin, Sardegna), to see this
idea mature.Mr. Fazie Baksmaty became the spoksman of what is today
called AFRISTONE, the African Association of Dimension Stone Producers.Mr.
Baksmaty visited potential member companies, European Stone Associations,
and slowly but securely gave a body to the Afristone idea.
We are confident that Afristone will enhance the development of the
natural stone sector in Africa and help establish long-term collaboration
agreement between European and African operators.It is hoped that,
CDE will continue to support Afristone and the individual member companies.
Objectives Afristone
With representatives coming from dimension stone
producing companies in various parts of Africa, namely: East
Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and Southern Africa, it
has been the objectives of Afristone:
-
To act as a strong continental Association and
as a pressure group to affect Government policy at its inception
or to advocate far change in policy, internally, regionally
or intentionally far the development of the dimension stone
industry.
-
Impress on Governments to remove tariff barriers,
and border restrictions far the free flaw of goods and services,
without which dimension stone development will remain at the
national level only.
-
To encourage Governments to provide infrastructure
e.g. power, bridges, roads to mining areas and improvement of
harbours to handle dimension stone.
-
To obtain and disseminate information on:
Marketing
Technology
Training
Venture Capital availability
Investment opportunities (foreign and local)
- To obtain and publish information on Dimension
Stone events worldwide, and organize continental missions to
fairs:
To publish an AFRISTONE magazine or bulletin
an quarterly basis.
Establish a data bank on active members, those
seeking markets, those who require expansion, or want to commence
new ventures.
Organize specialized workshops, seminars, and
training programmes.
Are as of Activities
In order to better develop and achieve its objectives,
the activities of the Association shall be divided into the
following work areas according to the different varieties of
natural stone.
-
Technology
-
Promotion
-
Social and economic relations
Secretariat of Afristone
The head quarters of Afristone has been sited
at in Accra, Ghana at the offices of Geological Management Consultancy
Limited, serving as the Secretariat.
The Association started with an initial membership of sixteen,
comprising companies from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Lesotho,
Zimbabwe, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Italy.
Membership
Afristone membership is open to companies in the
Dimension Stone industry, who are variously engaged in any of
the classified activities below:
-
Producers of dimension stone
-
Service providers on dimension stone
-
Installers / terrazzo stone producers Consultants
The association has various categories of membership:
-
Full member
-
Associate member
-
Honorary member
Producers of dimension stone shall qualify for
Full membership status while others, as in the category above,
shall only quality as Associate members.
In addition to the regular members, other companies, associations
or entities, whose activities or interests have some bearing
on the objectives of the Association and whose membership is
likely to promote the effective realization of the Association's
objectives may be admitted by the Board as Honorary Members.
Copyright ® 2002 - CDE (Center for the Development of Enterprise)
/ ICE (Italian Institutefor Foreign Trade)
/ IMM (Internazionale Marmi e Macchine Carrara Spa)
