Colonel Akbar said the setting up of export processing zones at Chitral and Gilgit would help effectively to utilise the mineral deposits of precious stones in northern areas and earn foreign exchange for the country.
He stated that there were bright prospects for fully benefiting from the mineral resources of precious stones in Pakistan and taking advantage of facilities at export processing zones.
He was of the view, that the private sector can play an important role in this regard.
Akbar said to facilitate the investment in industry at the export processing zones, he had forwarded the proposal to the government to allow investment in export processing zones in Pakistani currency as well.
Earlier, Dr Saud Hussain in his lecture on gem stones said the best quality emeralds in the world were available in Swat and that there were many other reserves of precious stones in NWFP, Balochistan and Northern areas which had been left unattended.
He said that in the world trade of 80 billion dollar of gem stones, Pakistan's share was only 0.2 million dollars. Dr Sajid said the setting up of cutting and polishing industry in the export processing zones will also help improve the mining of indigenous reserves of precious stones by modern methods applying the latest technology.
The session was conducted by the Chairman, Department of Geology, University of Karachi Professor Shamim A. Shaikh.
A senior geologist of ENI Pakistan Arshad H. Palekar also spoke on the occasion.