The President of İMİB came together with Wilbur Ross, the Minister of Commerce of the USA, and uttered his biggest demand: Turkish stones free of tax.
Aydın Dinçer, the President of Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (İMİB), met with Wilbur Ross, the Minister of Commerce of the USA. In the meeting held at the Çırağan palace, the situation of Turkish natural stone products in the American market and the studies at hand were discussed. Dinçer transmitted his expectations from the USA under eleven topics. The President of İMİB said, “After Turkey’s removal from the list of generalized preferences in May 2019, a tax from 2.8% to 6.5% started to be imposed on Turkish stones. To avoid a potential recession in our trade, we demanded tax exemption from the USA. We also demanded that a temporary working visa was provided to Turkish company representatives working in the country.”
Dinçer underlined the subjects below in the meeting held at Çırağan Palace:
1- A call for collaboration
The American Ministry of Commerce’s support was asked to encourage Turkish natural stone’s use. Some collaborative studies such as procurement committees, technical tours which are to be joined by American architects and project managers at quarries, and sectoral foundations/facilities in Turkey.
2- A move of archiving and library
The addition of Turkish natural stones as a category in architectural archives and libraries was proposed to increase the Turkish natural stone’s use in the projects in the USA.
3-Natural stone instead of artificial stone
The American government was asked to encourage natural stone use instead of synthetic stones.
4-Encouragement of natural stone
Dinçer said that the use of natural stone could be promoted for green buildings, renovations projects or newly built constructions, and it could be encouraged for public buildings, municipalities, and airports.
