QUETTA: Balochistan Assembly Speaker Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani has underlined the need for recognising gems and jewellery business as an industry which is playing an important role in the world’s economy.

Speaking at a certificate distributing ceremony of the Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company (PGJDC), Ministry of Production, here on Tuesday, she said that gems and jewellery business was adding billions of dollars to the world’s economy.

She expressed her happiness after witnessing male and female youths learning cutting and polishing of gems at a gemstone centre set up by PGJDC in Quetta, and said that after getting training in such centres, hundreds of unemployed youths of Balochistan could earn their livelihood.

Ms Durrani said that Balochistan was rich in mineral resources, especially in gemstones, and thousands of jobs could be created in the province and other parts of the country by declaring it an industry.

“The federal government should declare gems and jewellery business an industry for its promotion in the province,” Ms Durrani said.

She also urged youths, especially young women, to get training of designing, cutting and polishing of gemstones in centres set up by the PGJDC in Quetta and other parts of the country.

She said that after training at these centres jobless women and men could earn their livelihood.

PGJDC chairman Abdul Razzaq and PGJDC CEO Bakhtiar Khan also spoke at the ceremony and said that gems and jewellery business had a big scope in the country.

A large number of people, including Principal of Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Training and Manufacturing Centre, Quetta, Syed Bashir Agha, Senior Gemologist Jalil Ahmed Bareach, Balochistan Women Business Association chairperson Sana Durrani, Balochistan University’s Geology Department chairman Ayub Baloch and MPA Masooma Hayat, attended the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2016