Pakistan has huge investment scope in mineral sector, PM tells a meeting

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the country has huge scope for investment in the mineral sector and it is among the government’s priorities to exploit this immense potential.
The prime minister said this while chairing a high-level meeting on the Mineral Development Programme on Monday.
He directed the authorities concerned for early finalisation of the Mineral Development Programme, as the government is also in the process of formulating a strategy to benefit from the huge mineral reserves in the country.
Federal ministers Asad Umar and Hammad Azhar and senior federal and provincial officers concerning the mineral sector attended the meeting. The meeting was told that the programme is being designed keeping in view the problems confronting the sector, legal and administrative structure, and investment opportunities in the sector.
During the briefing on mineral reserves, the participants were told that the country was rich with minerals including rock salt, limestone, gypsum, China clay, silica sand, chromite, copper, gold, silver, iron, lead and zinc. Moreover, the meeting was also apprised of reserves of marble, granite, sandstone, sapphire, emerald, ruby, tourmaline and aquamarine stones.
The meeting was told that a strategy was in the final stage to attract investment on iron reserves in Chiniot and Kalabagh. The Mineral Development Programme would also feature the measures for promotion of research in the mineral sector.
Meanwhile, American broadcaster Glenn Beck has said that no other global leader but Prime Minister Imran Khan took an initiative to leverage his position in saving the innocent in Afghanistan and “putting humanity before politics”.
“His leadership of placing humanity before politics is a great example of inter-faith cooperation, bridged by the shared value of human compassion,” Beck said in a series of tweets and a letter, sharing details of the support extended by PM Imran Khan in evacuation of the American and local people from Afghanistan.
Beck mentioned that in hours of desperate need, numerous leaders in political and civil society reached out around the world for help, however the “silence was shocking”. Some calls and requests received a simple yes or no, some went unanswered, he said.
“But we received an immediate response to our requests from Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan, who then acted on his willingness to assist,” he said, expressing a sense of gratitude.
“PM Khan quickly asked his people to intervene on our behalf and was able to make the difference between life and death for those onboard the first three aircraft to leave Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan with nearly a thousand civilians on board,” he said. “Many of them are Americans.”
He said PM Khan’s “tireless leadership, supported by the military and civilian resources of Pakistan and their ability to cooperate with the Taliban, enabled the first two flights to depart Mazar-i-Sharif with FIFA female athletes and their families onboard”. – TLTP, NNI