Public-private partnership is a must for quality improvement and value addition of products related to gemstone and jewellery sector, said Chairpserson, Pakistan Gems and Jewellery Development Company (PGJDC) Senator Mrs Semeen Yusuf Siddiqui on Wednesday.
Senator Mrs. Semeen Siddiqui, was addressing the 3-day Training Workshop on “Gemstone Identification and Evaluation”, jointly organized by Pakistan Museum of Natural History (PMNH) and PGJDC at PMNH. The workshop has been arranged to impart training to business persons about gemstones, their identification, characteristics, grading and gemstones value assessment. Over 40 persons from various chambers of commerce and industry are participating in the training workshop aimed at value addition and quality improvement of finished products. The workshop would highlight salient features of gemstone trade and certain pitfalls. Mrs. Semeen Siddiqui welcomed a proposal of signing an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for public-private partnership to promote research for improving quality of gems and jewellery products.
The Senator suggested that there should be some training programme on business management for participants of the workshop so that they could effectively run their business and contribute to the national development. She said PGJDC was established in 2007 and since then it is working for the development of the gemstone and jewellry sector. She said PGJDC, has various sub-centers and is offering different training courses to the interested persons. Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation (PSF), Prof. Dr. Manzoor H. Soomro in his address said that there should be a MoU between PMNH and PGJDC, to have a public-private partnership and to improve value addition of gems and jewellery products to compete the international market.
