Mr. Mutiullah A. Shaikh
Chairman, PGJDC

It is my pleasure to welcome distinguished guests from around the world, especially foreign buyers who have shown tremendous interest in Pakistan’s precious treasures. I would also like to appreciate the participation of exhibitors from Pakistan’s mineral rich regions and other prominent jewelers, exporters and designers.

The Pakistan International Gems & Jewellery Exhibition 2010 is designed purely on international lines and is expected to attract genuine buyers from all major markets of the world. The PGJDC organizing team must be given due credit for implementing this great event under extreme stringent time lines. I am sure the exhibition will chart a roadmap for all future exhibitions of this nature.

Pakistan is blessed with some of the finest quality of precious and semi-precious gemstones to be found in any part of the world. The northern areas of the country, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, boast of a dazzling variety of gemstones which are in great demand in the major international markets of gemstones and jewelry.

The Ministry of Industries and Production has taken a positive step in ensuring that the development, promotion and marketing of this sector is undertaken professionally to achieve the desired results. In view of the potentially huge world market of US$ 85 Billion for gems and jewelry and for the fact that Pakistan has vast natural reserves of precious and semi precious gemstones, cheap labour, and rich tradition of craftsmanship in jewellery manufacturing, the government decided to give it an Industry status.