The draft for preparation of a strategy regarding development of gems & jewelry sector would be completed by the end of current calendar year, sources in Small & Medium Entrepreneurs Development Authority (SMEDA) told Business Recorder on Friday.
The sources said Federal Minister for Industries and Production Jehangir Tareen had identified seven sectors on which development work had to be carried out and gems & mineral sector was one of those potential sectors in the country.
The authority was working on formulating a strategy for the development of gems & mineral sector in collaboration with private sector stakeholders.
For the formulation of strategy, the Ministry of Industries and Production has also constituted two working groups for the preparation of strategy for the development of gems & jewellery sector.
The working group on jewellery sector is headed by a Lahore based private sector entrepreneur while the working group on gem sector is headed by Muhammad Asif Khan chairman All Pakistan Commercial Exporters Association (APCEA).
In this context, the working group on jewellery sector has already visited to the gem clusters in Namak Mandi Peshawar.
The group was included senior members of APCEA, representatives from Smeda, gems traders and jewellers from Lahore and Karachi. The visitors have appreciated the working being done on gems at the Namak Mandi cluster and expressed hope for their development.
A meeting of the group was also held at the Gems & Gemological Institute of Pakistan (GGIP). During meeting the group discussed the prospects and problems of the sector with a consultant from USAID Dr Warren Weinstein.
During meeting in Peshawar, the members of the group identified various problems faced by the sector.
The quality, design and presentation of the Pakistani products were compared with that of the major players of the world market.
The second meeting of the group was agreed to be held in Karachi on 22nd of November. After completion the work on the strategy would be presented to the Federal Minister for Industries and Production Jehangir Tareen for formal approval.
It has worth to mention the government has taken a number of measures for the development and promotion of this sector that increased the gems export to dollars 500 million last year.
Pakistan is fortunate to have some of the largest variety of highly priced gemstones and is closely located to some of the international gems markets such as UAE, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and India etc.
The gemstones of Pakistan are including Green Emerald, deep red ruby, topaz, aquamarine, garnet, lapis-lazuli, jade, peridot, tourmaline and zircon.
The gems of Pakistan has big demands in the markets of Hong Kong, Germany, USA, Thailand, Japan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, Austria, Afghanistan, China, Demark, Abu Dubai, France, India, Italy, Singapore, Switzerland and Sri Lanka.
For the promotion of export of cut and polished gemstones, a Gem & Gemological Institute of Pakistan has also been set up in Peshawar to provide skilled labour to the industry for increasing value added exports of gems.