FROM MAY 29TH TO JUNE 1ST, THE NATURAL STONE SECTOR WILL MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A GREAT EVENT, HAVING AN OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT SCENARIOS ARE TO BE EXPECTED IN THE FUTURE. AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH EVENTS.
New exhibiting countries, cutting-edge natural stone processing technology and "CarraraMarmotec Virtual Fair", the on line exhibition.

After September 11th, nothing will ever be the same again and all the world's economic sectors shall be challenged by new scenarios, and the natural stone sector will have to think about the scenarios that will come up in the future within a context that is hard and complicated for all the world's economic sectors.
Carraramarmotec, a top-level and outstanding exhibition for the sectors of natural stones, quarrying and processing technologies and highly specialised services, due to be held from May 29th to June 1st,,will play an even more significant role, in the light of the current international events and economic trends, since it will offer all the world's operators an opportunity to meet and discuss both the current situation and future prospects..

They will do so, taking as a starting point some sure-fire elements that have clearly come to the fore during the organisation of the 23rd International Fair for Marble, Machinery and Services, and that concern, for instance, the official participation of some countries and regions that, after times of internal disruption or wars, will officially take part in the Carrara fair, either directly or collectively with other countries, to exhibit for the first time their most interesting products : this is living proof that, when a country wants to penetrate international marble markets even after extremely hard times, it chooses the Carrara fair and the Carrara district as its most profitable opportunity.

It is the same setting as was chosen in the past and that has been riconfirmed for 2002, thanks to the satisfactory results obtained by the Maghreb countries and Tunisia, which are strengthening the concept that the Carrara fair is a natural interface for North African regions.

On the same grounds, public companies and boards from Eastern Europe and the Balkan area like Serbia and Repubblic of Macedonia, or from Asia, such as Iran, India, Pakistan and China, are announcing their participation, which proves that, just when traditional markets are going through a hard time, producers see the Carrara district and the Carrara Fair as the ideal instrument to promote their materials and goods, or in any case to increase the number of their trading partners.

All this, as we look forward to finding out how the US market will react to September 11th attacks and more generally to the difficult time that the world's economy is going through.
The massive participation of foreign exhibitors or representative boards is the fruit of a huge promotional campaign carried out all over the world, especially in those areas which have the best development potentials, such as the Middle East, with special attention to Iran, which can boast a rapidly growing stone industry.
Through specific co-operation agreement signed with the Italian Chambers of Commerce abroad, an intense promotional campaign is being carried out in all those countries which are most involved in this industry. They are, in particular, the Chamber of Commerce of Queensland (for Australia), that of the Cairo and Tunis for the North-African area, the Chamber of Izmir for Turkey and that of Salonika for Greece, while in Europe the Chambers of Lisbon (Portugal), Madrid (Spain) and Marseilles (France) are getting busy.

In addition, the Italian Chambers of Commerce to Zurich, The Hague, Stockholm and Brussels are also making efforts in Europe.
It has been a careful and thorough work targeted to exhibitors and visitors, from whom important results are expected, while producers from all over the world are looking forward to CarraraMarmotec to understand how the US market is going to react to the September 11th events and more generally to the hardships that the world's economy is going through.

Based on these incentives and these prospects, Internazionale Marmi e Macchine has carried out many promotional campaigns, not only in traditional markets, but also in Eastern Europe and in the Middle East, the results of which will be accurately double-checked with the operators and exhibitors at the fair.
Architects and businessmen from all over the world are confident that there is and there will always be room for a 'semantic' use of natural stone, also in difficult circumstances, using the modern technology that the sector employs and that make stone always modern and in any case usable with excellent aesthetic results, also when applied to the latest building schemes that might become typical of the future building sector.

But it is essential that designers, operators and technicians at all levels and all over the world proactively react to this technical and commercial challenge, and this is why the Carrara Fair is one of the most important events in the world, since it is held in an area where the most important quarrying, processing and trading companies are located, along with those companies that manufacture cutting-edge technology.

All these completely fresh elements will contribute, along with more traditional participants, to turn the 23rd International Fair for Marble, Machinery and Services into the most important event for the sector, that will meet at Carrara to take part in the technical and commercial side of it, but also to understand how the sector is reacting to the events that the world's economy is going through and which are clearly affecting the application of natural stones as well.

For its peculiar features, Carraramarmotec is an event of world-wide importance for the sector: last year's fair counted 862 exhibitors, including 112 foreign companies from 30 different countries, on an exhibiting surface of thirty thousand square metres.

These results testify to the importance that operators from all over the world are attaching to a fair that guarantees commercial results, due to the number and standard of visitors who can view an extremely comprehensive and top-quality range of marble, stones, granite from the world over as well as of state-of-the-art technology, the brainchildren of research that has brought in great innovation over the last few years in the processing and application of natural stone.

The fair is a comprehensive showcase of materials, technology and services alongside important trading contacts and, according to a survey conducted by IMM, 79% of exhibitors have judged the activity carried out last year as "very positive" both by comparison with the results obtained in the previous years and for the opportunity to strengthen commercial relations.

Carraramarmotec visitors stated that 70% of their interest focuses on natural stone, without however neglecting technology: 50% of visitors said they were interested in both areas.

CarraraMarmotec is an excellent opportunity for business, qualified contacts, information, in an area that, according to the census taken by Internazionale Marmi e Macchine in 2001, can rely on 1,093 stone companies, employing 6,622 people , and 164 technology and service companies employing 1,452 people, that is the icing on the top of the fair and makes up a universe of companies that guarantee direct contacts with the world of the white marble quarries and also with the greatest companies, while highly-qualified research and services institutions are an inexhaustible source of information and contacts.

Through a close co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ICE (Foreign Trade Institute) and the Region Tuscany, visits of many official delegations have been organised for 2002 as well, which will be composed of architects as well as professionals from all over the world, who will provide the exhibitors with high-profile contacts .

Professionals, experts and businessmen from the world over may click on line to visit the fair, the stalls and the goods on display at "CarraraMarmotec virtual fair". They will be able to 'surf' the Internet inside a perfect reconstruction of the fair in all its details. The virtual version of the fair will be, along with its real counterpart, an effective promotion and communication tool available to everyone on the web and open all year round. This virtual version of the fair will be presented at CarraraMarmotec.

The events and meetings organised and held during the fair will contribute, along with the goods on display, to inform professionals about the materials, technology and specialised services that such an ever-growing sector proposes by showcasing the very best all the companies of the world have to offer.

The exhibitors, who are offered an opportunity to present the best of their production at this international showcase, providing their companies with contacts with international markets and producers as well as strengthening their reputation, and the visitors, that can have extremely interesting contacts inside and outside the fair, are both protagonists at CarraraMarmotec.

Top-level events are being organised for the 2002 fair, as usual, a distinguishing feature of Carrara that aims at offering exhibitors and visiting professionals opportunities for information and discussion on the most interesting technical and cultural topics and that, in the light of the current international economic scenarios, will be particularly useful.

The schedule of the events will be as rich as usual, some of them having by now become traditional and well-known in the international stone world, such as, for instance, the presentation of the book Stone Sector, whose results will be discussed with international experts, or the traditional seminar on new European regulations, not to mention the technical seminar held by the architects who will have won the Marble Architectural Award, which in 2002 will be awarded to those architects that will have accomplished projects through a significant use of natural stone in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

The restoration sector has become a specially important part of the fair and, as in the past, a stone restoration show will be set up to showcase products and results presented by specialised companies that will also give demos of their techniques, while hands-on experiences, studies and accomplished projects will be illustrated at a technical seminar.

The role of the fair on an international scale and the events that economy is going through and the future of stone applications compel us to address strongly strategic themes that, through the impact that an international-scale exhibition can afford, may cross the boundaries of internal debate.

For the 2002 fair, three large topics have been identified for discussion: one concerns the need to protect the 'reputation' of natural stone from misleading communication by competing products that exploit the reputation of marble and granite to gain market shares that they could not otherwise penetrate. A specific meeting will address the needs and measures to be taken to properly protect the 'reputation' of natural stone.

Another area for discussion will concern a comparison of marble production and application systems in different countries and different areas, through an open debate that will also try to assess the future prospects of the leading markets.
Some food for thought, not only cultural, will be given by a definitely unconventional subject, i.e. women architects, an opportunity to gain a better understanding of and highlight the contributions, sometimes technically and formally precious, given by women working in the marble sector, with very important designing functions. This topic is certainly not traditional, and contributions from women designers are bound to be raise the level of attention and general debate.

Taking part in CarraraMarmotec is an excellent opportunity to visit a region in which there is a natural continuity among the exhibiting companies, that work in a region where the most famous architects in the world come every day to select and check the materials and processes that provide the most modern and functional uses of natural stone.

Carrara is also an ideal starting point for the discovery of artistic, cultural, gastronomic, naturalistic or fashionable tours. Not only white marble quarries and business, but beaches, sports, art, culture, shows, shopping, along with traditional food and the trendiest bars and discos, in powerfully fascinating places.

Tuscany is a region that can offer to culture- and art-lovers an infinite number of tours, from include the great art towns (Florence, Siena, Lucca, Pisa) to villages and smaller but equally charming towns (Volterra, San Gimignano), the sights of the marine landscape of near-by Cinque Terre and Portofino, alongside an unrivalled wealth of museums in Carrara or Pietrasanta, palaces, piazzas, religious places where stone has always been skilfully used with results that stand out as fascinating and modern examples. All this, not to mention the quarries, extraordinary views created by man through the quarrying of marble in thousands and thousands of years, with powerful and ever-changing sights. Carrara, a place where operators cannot help going, is therefore worth a visit also for the many opportunities it offers. In short: you must be there.

The final balance is really rewarding: out of a total number of 48,000 visitors, 16,000 were foreigners from 110 different countries; 862 exhibitors, with 112 foreign companies from thirty different countries. 30,000 square metres of net exhibition area made available. 77% of visiting operators were interested in natural stone, and specifically 37% in marble, 25% in granite and 15% in natural stone. 50% of visitors stated, however that they were interested in both the stone sector and technology. They consisted of an interesting mix of different jobs, as found by a survey conducted among the visitors: 15% of the interviewees were architects, 17% engineers, 28% building contractors.

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