PCJCCI Proposes Prospects of Joint Ventures in Gemstone sector under CPEC
President PCJCCI (Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry) Zarak Khan has said that China is the largest consumer market for gems and jewellery offers enormous business prospects to Pakistani gemstone export sector. He informed that Pakistan has the fifth largest gemstone reserves in the world which needs to be exploited to their full extent. Senior Vice President PCJCCI proposed that assistance of Chinese professional would be solicited to provide training to stone workers and mining engineers in manufacturing and to design modern jewellery to excel in this segment of the economy.
LAHORE: Being the largest global consumer market for gems and jewellery, China offers a vast opportunity to Pakistan for lifting its exports in this segment, remarked Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI), President Zarak Khan.
He was speaking at a meeting of the PCJCCI Export Promotion Committee at the chamber on Thursday.
The PCJCCI president pointed out that Pakistan had the fifth largest gemstone reserves but unfortunately it was unable to benefit from its natural resources due to a lack of skills, technology, and knowledge for processing the precious stones.
Khan said Pakistan had potential reserves of 800,000 carats of ruby, 87,000 carats of emerald and 5 million carats of Peridot, which had remained unutilised due to the absence of appropriate cutting and polishing facilities in the country.
He was of the view that Pakistan’s pink topaz and Kashmir ruby were considered unique all over the world.
PCJCCI Senior Vice President Moazzam Ghurki suggested collaboration between Pakistan and China in a bid to acquire knowledge of the latest techniques for the cutting and polishing of gemstones.
He called for taking the National Productivity Organisation (NPO) onboard along with the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO). “Chinese professionals should be invited to train Pakistan’s labour force and mining engineers in manufacturing and designing state-of-the-art jewellery in this vital segment of the economy,” he said.
PCJCCI Secretary-General Salahuddin Hanif told the meeting that China began capturing the attention of the global jewellery industry in 1978 and with the passage of time, it had emerged into a rapidly growing consumer market.
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