Gems and minerals show rescheduled

The rescheduled three-day gems and mineral show now will be held from August 28 to August 30 to promote business sector in the country. All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association (APCEA) will hold the exhibition in collaboration with Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP). This year the association is set to hold 14th exhibition of the gems and minerals.
The show is a regular business event since 1994, which was used to hold in October each year. However, it was not held due to security reasons in the country in November 2007. Trade Development Authority of Pakistan has approved an amount of Rs 1.6 million for the event.
"This year the association has invited buyers from India, Hong Kong, Thailand, United States and Germany, who would come to attend the show and carried shopping in the show," Jamshid Khan, chairman APCEA told Business Recorder.
He said that TDAP is financing the show with an amount of Rs 1.6 million, which is not sufficient. The association is also seeking assistance from different telecom companies and financial institutions for sponsorship of the event.
Nature has gifted Pakistan with rich deposits of some of the finest and valuable gemstones in the world. Most of these deposits are concentrated in the Northern Areas, Malakand, Hazara and Mardan divisions etc in addition to Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata).
A variety of gemstones including emerald, ruby, peridot, aquamarine and topaz having world-wide demand are mined and traded for local and foreign markets. The show before 9/11 was attracting a large number of local and foreign buyers. But, the war on terror and security reasons had made the event dull since last several years.
"We had invited buyers from all those countries having gem market and confidant that they would come to attend the exhibition," said Khan. He called for the usage of modern technology and modern machinery for cutting and finishing of the gems to help earn foreign exchange for the country. He said that TDAP has already established Gems Geological Institute of Pakistan (GGIP) for promotion of the skill of cutting and finishing and usage of modern technology in the sector.
The GGIP, Jasmshid Khan said that he had trained more than 1200 students among whom the proportion of the employed ones is more than 70 percent. The association, since its inception in 1994 to June 2007 has exported precious stones worth $106.54 million while an export of $7.60 million had been carried out till April 2008. As compared to Pakistan other countries like India, Thailand and Hong Kong earned billion of dollars after exporting the value-added gems imported from Pakistan.