The Indian buyers are facing difficulties in getting Pakistani visa to come here and attend the 11th Gems and Mineral Show to be held from October 11 to 14.
This was disclosed by All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association (Apcea) Chairman Muhammad Asif Khan while talking to Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
He said that a 60-member Indian buyer's delegation, who wanted to attend the show, had applied for visas with the Pakistan High Commission in India.
However, due to some security-related problem, they had yet to get Pakistani visas, he added.
The Gems and Mineral Show, jointly organised by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) and the APCEA, has become a regular feature of the business community of the province.
This year, the chief guest of the event would be the NWFP Governor, Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah (Retd), while senior officials of the EPB would also be present on the occasion.
He said that the show attracted buyers from different countries of the world, including India, Germany, Japan, Thailand, United States and Netherlands.
However, he said according to reports from India, the members of the delegation were facing difficulties to get Pakistani visa, at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
"We require participation of Indian buyers as the demand of rough gemstone is high in India. Indian buyers, after polishing and finishing the gemstones, can export them to other countries.
"Similarly, they also show interest in the purchase of other varieties of the precious and semi-precious stones," Khan said.
The Apcea Chairman said that a lot of buyers from different countries were interested to attend the show, but the ongoing war on terror and Wana operation were preventing them from coming here.
He said that the propaganda was still going on both electronic and print media.
"The frequent foreign visitors of the show have no full confidence in our good law and order situation, but those who are coming for the first time are concerned about the situation in this part of Pakistan," he added.
He said that 28 stalls had been booked for the exhibition. Four of the stalls have been awarded by the EPB, while the remaining 24 were of local businessmen. "The rising number of the exhibitors and stalls is an ample proof that the show has achieved importance among the business community," he added.
For the first time in the 11-year history of the Gems and Mineral Show, all stalls had been booked several months before the event, he said.
Pakistan in general and NWFP and Northern Areas in particular had been bestowed with rich mineral resources, particularly in precious and semi-precious stones, he said, adding it was one of the significant sources of the coloured precious stone-producer and supplier catering to the need of jewellery industry the world over.
According to the All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association's data, the body has exported precious and semi-precious stones worth 72.92 million dollars during the last 10 years, while during the last three months of the current financial year, it has exported gemstones worth 0.815 million dollars.
India, which does not have any indigenous gems stones deposits, but its exports of gems is around 10 billion dollars and employing almost five million people.
The Indian government has allowed duty-free import of gemstones for export.
Pakistani gemstones, especially emeralds, are considered finest in the world. The other precious and semi-precious stones are ruby, aquamarine, topaz, tourmaline, periodot, flourite, garnet, lapis lazuli etc. The deposits of these precious stones are found in the rugged and almost inaccessible territories of the hilly regions.
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