17 January 2017
Formation of the Georgian Cement Association
On January 17th, the founding of the Georgian Cement Association (GCA) was announced at Tbilisi Marriot Hotel conference hall.
The purpose of the GCA is to inform all Georgian cement producers and users as to how (1) construction safety is affected by cement quality and (2) customer protection is guaranteed by “truth in advertising” of cement products sold in bags. Furthermore, it is important to note that maximizing domestic production of quality cement results in job creation and incremental economic growth.
To meet this need, HeidelbergCement Caucasus (HCC) and the Georgian Building Group (GBG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kavkaz Cement, decided to form the Georgian Cement Association.
The founding members have united around the issue of cement quality. To achieve this goal, it is essential to test all domestically-produced products, those of the founding members as well as those of all other local producers, in order to ensure that the quality of cement in the bag corresponds to the quality of the product specified on the bag. Bags to be tested will be purchased anonymously in the open market quarterly and distributed to laboratories on a “blind” basis. Testing shall be conducted primarily by an independent and neutral laboratory, such as Georgian Technical University, and reconfirmed by parallel testing. Additionally, the overall process will be supervised by Chamber of Commerce and industry of Georgia, as an independent and neutral side.
The goal of the GCA is to create a respected and well-recognized “Good Quality Seal”. Only GCA members in good standing shall be entitled to advertise the quality of their products in this way. In order to become a member, each producer must first have the quality of its products certified by testing for a period of time before they are accepted into membership. Thereafter, each member of the GCA will continue to have its products tested for quality in order to maintain its standing.
The Georgian Cement Association will work actively on any other relevant problematic issues related to the cement and building materials industry. Close communication will be maintained with the government authorities and appropriate official bodies.
A final and very important aspect of the GCA is to help ensure the competitiveness and the economic viability of the building materials industry in Georgia, the benefits of which will be the creation and maintenance of jobs and the sector’s contribution to economic growth. This will reduce the need to import such products, as well as minimizing the migration of jobs, knowledge and experience from our country.
