A delegation of the stakeholders of mining sector and Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) officials here on Thursday called on Sudanese diplomats Mohamed Eldei Ali and Muaawia Omer and discussed the bilateral trade and investment opportunities in marble and granite mining sector.
The delegation comprised of Shahid-ur-Rehman Khan, Chairman Standing Committee for Mining of FPCCI and member Board of Directors of PASDEC, Sikander Hayat Jogezai, Chairman Pakistan Marble Industries Association (APMIA), Saleem Mughal, Furrakh Majeed, Abdul Sami and Toufeeq Ahmad, Manager Projects of PASDEC.
Shahid-ur-Rehman Khan told the Sudanese diplomats that Pakistan had huge potential of marble and granite. The sector was progressing on right path with mutual co-operation of the government and private sector, he added. Pakistan Stone Development Company had introduced mechanised quarrying in the country to implement the marble and granite sector development strategy. "By state of the art machinery we are extracting marble square blocks as per international standard," Khan said.
"Pakistan and Sudan are brotherly Islamic country and have close Islamic and friendly relations which is need to promote bilateral trade. We are offering to establish and promote strong trade relations especially in mining sector," Abdul Sami said. The Sudanese diplomats welcomed the offer and said that Sudan had a lot of minerals potential like gold, gypsum, marble and chrome but the nation concentrated all her attention on gold mining due to rapid growing value of gold in the world.
They also offered Pakistani businessmen and investors to invest in Sudan gold mining sector. They assured that the government of Sudan would facilitate them with all kind of facilities. They pointed out that Sudan marble sector is under development and would improve with the passage of time.