Tapping treasure troves
Pakistan in pursuit of tapping its treasure troves beneath the surface took a leap forward by holding a two-day international moot. The Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2025 (PMIF25), held in Islamabad, attracted a sizeable gathering of foreign investors and official delegates, intended at unlocking the estimated trillions of dollars of untapped reserves.
Given that Pakistan is on the map of precious minerals, especially its southwestern province of Balochistan, the new geo-economic craving and connectivity has opened new vistas of collaboration. Thus, a renewed push to introduce the geography and salient features of metals that await to see the light of the day across the length and breadth of Pakistan is a step in the right direction, especially at a time when global economic interdependence is on the rise in the wake of trade and tariff revulsions.
The Prime Minister and the Army Chief push the envelope further by throwing open the vast potential with an official nod. This time around, Pakistan has come up with a roadmap to walk the talk by underscoring the need to process and export mineral products, rather than shipping raw materials abroad.
This policy is two-pronged intended at not only sharing the bounties of minerals with the world at large for a right price tag, but also enabling the local industry to attract technical knowhow aimed at capacity building. If harnessed properly, it has the potential to pull the economy out of the abyss of degeneration and poverty, helping it out of the debt trap.
That necessitates not only some critical thinking but also a foolproof plan to add value to extraction, and its subsequent compartmentalisation for earning due recognition on the international index. Saindak, Reko Diq and other gold pots have been in news more for litigations and controversies, and this is where pooling of synergies in the legal and commercial contexts is desired in all sincerity.
Last but not least, a successful epilogue can only be written if the locals inhabiting these strategic lands are on board, and international investors are convinced that tranquility and consensus is assured.
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