QUETTA: Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar presided over a high-level meeting in Balochistan on Saturday to review the province’s security situation and evaluate progress on development projects carried out in various districts.

Situated in the southwest of the country, Balochistan is Pakistan’s least developed federating unit despite one of the biggest copper and gold deposits in the world. It has also experienced separatist violence for several decades by Baloch nationalist groups who accuse the central government of exploiting the natural resources of the region.

Kakar, who hails from the same province and took oath as Pakistan’s eighth interim prime minister earlier this month, highlighted the need to adopt creative and modern methods to tap Balochistan’s mineral resources.

“The caretaker government in Pakistan is keen to protect the nation and the country by maintaining a secure environment which is our top priority,” he said during the meeting in Balochistan’s provincial capital, Quetta.

Accompanied by his cabinet members, Kakar received a detailed brief by the provincial authorities regarding security situation ahead of the next general elections scheduled to take place in the next few months.

He also pledged to create additional economic and business opportunities for the residents of Balochistan that has a long coastline on the Arabian Sea where Pakistan is jointly undertaking several development projects with China.

“Balochistan is replete with natural minerals which could be utilized for the country’s economic uplift,” he observed. “But with better infrastructure in the province, we can benefit from the minerals [more].”

Discussing the issue of Balochistan’s physical connectivity with neighboring provinces, the prime minister instructed the National Highway Authority to expedite the reconstruction of a major bridge that was washed away by floods last year.