A Central Asian country of great natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions, Kyrgyzstan shares borders with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. It is the farthest eastern Central Asian republic of the former Soviet Union. With an area of 198.500 km2 the landscape is rugged and mountainous - the average elevation is 2.750 m and almost 90% lies more than 1.500 m above sea level. Most of the 5 million or so population live in the valleys of the north and west. Agriculture (chiefly livestock farming) is the main activity.

The Inada Granite is a representative light grey natural stone of Japan for noble ornamental uses. This rock has been exploited since 1890 with stable supply up to the present. Most of Japanese traditional architectures are made up of wood, however, many modern buildings of this country adopt ornamental rocks applying to surface coating on their wall and pillar and to pavement of floor. Today, natural stones, especially granites and marbles, are dealt as noble construction materials even in the Far East of Asia.

The Bindesplatz (Federation Square) in the old city of Bern, the capital of Switzerland, has been re-designed and re-landscaped in 2003-2004 at total cost of 8 million Swiss Francs (approx. 5’2 million Euro). The new design provides a most attractive appearance by three simple elements: stone, water and light.

Viktor Yushchenko´s election as President of the Ukraine was confirmed on January 20th 2005. He supports a deepening of his country´s frail democracy and improved contacts with the west whilst maintaining traditional ties with Russia. In October last year, an international decorative stone exhibition was held in Kiev, the capital city. Leading Italian companies took part. All aspects of the Ukrainian stone industry are analyzed in this report by Paul Daniel and Oleg Geleta.

Stone terminology is not exactly at the top of the agenda in the stone sector. However, standardization and globalization have increased awareness for communication needs and rapid change is now taken place in priorities.

Every year the Spanish Stone Federation (FDP) compiles a detailed report on the state of the natural stone industry of the country with a wide range of statistics on production, exports, imports, divided by different autonomous communities. The complete report related to the year 2004 is about 100 pages long, and more information can be obtained at telephone (+ 34) 91 388 14 67 or carmen.lopezbarrajon@fdp.es. Below we publish some of the more import statistics relating to foreign trade in natural stone.

The exports of ornamental rocks of Brazil broke the historical record of growth in 2004, reaching 600 million US Dollars, which meant an increase of almost 40% with respect to 2003. In tons, the exports figure was 1,840,434, which represented an increase of 20% on the previous year.

The share of exports of Brazilian stone out of the total exports of the country was of 0,62%, and is expected to reach 1%in 2006.

Everyone who visits the Crimea falls in love with the region. Impressions of this virtual paradise are, in the author´s opinion, based on three main constituents - the warm, bright blue sea, the picturesque mountains, and the famous white stone which is still quarried today. 

Eternity had only been interrupted. The Old Bridge in Mostar, which had been constructed in 1556, rose from the ashes in July 2004. This symbol for the bond between peoples and religions had been built under the assumption of everlastingness, but became a victim of the Bosnian war in 1993. This monument, which is also important regarding its architecture, was rebuilt under the direction of the UNESCO with the participation of the LGA (Regional Industrial Association) of Nuremberg (Germany)

Ester Nelly Castro, Graciela Castro, María Angélica Matar, Juan Carlos Perucca

In the province of San Juan there are important deposits of marbles which have an intermittent production since many decades, in three well defined districts:

- District San Juan Centre (Pie de Palo-La Laja)
- District San Juan Sur (Divisadero / Cieneguita)
- District San Juan East (Valle Fértil)