Awearness Seminar and Exhibition on the development of Marble and Granite sector of Pakistan in collaburation with ICCI

PRESS RELEASE FOR AWARENESS SEMINAR ON DEVELOPMENT OF MARBLE
AND GRANITE SECTOR OF PAKISTAN ON INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC) in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) arranged an “Awareness Seminar on Marble and Granite Sector development on international standards” on 15th September 2022. The objective of the seminar was to create awareness about the potential of the marble and granite sector of the country.

Mr. Syed Murtaza Mahmood – Federal Minister of Industries and Production was the chief guest of the awareness seminar which was attended by foreign dignitaries including Ambassadors & other diplomats, marble & granite stakeholders and members of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Speaking at the seminar, Syed Murtaza Mahmood said that Pakistan’s marble and granite sector has huge potential and a number of our products are being showcased in international events pertaining to the marble industry but there’s a long road to go ahead.

With increasing demand of Pakistani marble and granite across the globe, we are also adopting the best practices in mining, processing and packaging so that our products meet international standards. He also emphasized that in order to meet the challenge of globalization, we have to go beyond the traditional approaches. We have to re-engineer our processes in accordance with international standards. Increasing revenues, better project management, bringing in more value for money, fiscal reforms and access to finance are some areas that we as a Government are focusing on and efforts in this regard are underway.

Ms. Shamama Tul Ambar Arbab – Chairperson Board of Directors PASDEC said that Pakistan’s marble and granite sector has great potential and it has vast reserves of high quality marble and granite. There is considerable scope for growth, particularly in the export market (currently 37 M US$). Pakistan’s marble and granite products are competitively priced and of good quality. The sector is progressively advancing forward to compete the international standards besides, generating economic activities for boosting exports and new job opportunities. She also invited the private and corporate sector to come and invest in JVs and model quarries in the marble and granite sector .Furthermore she also suggested for making an Apex ministry for dimension stone sector with prime focus on coordination between the provinces, data collection, policy Making, its implementation , discouraging primitive blasting methods , and further incentivizing the mechanized mining with support in lobbying and taxation , while embedding all the policies in the national agenda and encouraging local production so that balance of trade may be achieved.

Babar Miraj Shami, CEO, PASDEC during his speech at the seminar said that the Marble and Granite Sector of the country has potential to become internationally competitive and one of the sources of foreign exchange for Pakistan. The main thrust is to promote use of the state-of-the-art technology in extracting and processing Marble and Granite. He also highlighted that PASDEC in the short span has established multiple projects for demonstration of latest quarrying techniques and technology coupled with skill development programs to cater skilled workforce requirements of the industry. PASDEC
has 80% share in the overall mechanized operations of the sector.

Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, ICCI highlighted the potential of marble and granite sector and said that the sector has a great potential in terms of mining, processing and trading and that it’s the need of the hour that focus should be on use of mechanized mining and processing in the sector.