Pakistan gems, jewellery export promotion authority approved

LAHORE: The federal government approved setting up of “Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Authority” for the development, regulation and promotion of the gems and jewellery industry and for establishment of gems and jewellery city/park/ exchange to boost this sector.

Federal cabinet recently approved the draft of the Act for this Authority which will now be tabled before parliament. PM’s Task Force Chairman for Gems and Jewellery Engr Gul Asghar Khan said this in a discussion with the Gold and Gems Art Promotion Council of Pakistan (GGAPCP) President and Lahore Division Sarafa and Jewllers Association Chairman Muhammad Ahmad.

Gul Asghar Khan congratulated the whole jeweller community on this historic step taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his team members for boosting exports of gems & jewellery from Pakistan.

GGAPC Pakistan President Muhammad Ahmad also felicitated Engr Gul Asghar Khan on this achievement and hoped that establishment of the Authority would pave way to resolve the issues being faced by the jeweller community and putting Pakistan on the global map of jewellery exporting countries.

He, however, once again asked Engr Gul Asghar Khan to get rid of SRO 760 at the earliest if he wanted that this Authority should become a success besides taking the genuine leadership of the jeweller community on the board of this Authority.

Muhammad Ahmad assured the PM Task Force Chairman of the all-out support of his organisation to make the government’s step a rousing success. NAP, GCU to exchange expertise: National Archives of Pakistan (NAP), Islamabad, is to collaborate with Government College University (GCU’s) newly-established Department of Archive Studies in terms of exchange of expertise and training.

First of its kind in the country, GCU’s Department of Archive Studies at the Institute of History will deal with record acquisition, conservation, management and interpretation. A delegate of the Institute of History visited the NAP to discuss various initiatives and projects of collaborations. NAP DG Naveed Alauddin and Deputy Director Mazhar Saeed offered the GCU for organising exhibitions, training its faculty and students in paper conservation and record keeping. They also offered internships to its students.

The GCU offered to give admissions to the archivists working at Archives for its certificate courses, MPhil and PhD programmes. GCU’s VC, Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi said the university took the initiative on the request of the Punjab government. “Since we do not have organised archives in the country, we have failed to generate our own discourses on development, history, culture and institutionalisation. He thanked NAP and Cambridge University Archives who helped GCU in devising the academic programmes.