ISLAMABAD: A Copenhagen-based multinational mining company, FLSmidth, will train 100 Pakistani engineers in mining, the Pakistani government said on Friday, amid Islamabad’s efforts to utilize the country’s vast mineral resources for economic gains.
The statement by Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID) came after Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik’s meeting with Danish Ambassador to Pakistan Jakob Linulf in Islamabad that focused on bilateral cooperation in the energy sector, particularly in mining and technological collaboration.
Malik recognized that FLSmidth’s advanced solutions in cement production, mineral processing and decarbonization align with Pakistan’s goals of increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact in its extractive industries, according to the PID.
He emphasized the Pakistani government’s commitment to creating an investor-friendly environment and invited Danish companies, including FLSmidth, to explore partnerships with Pakistani firms during the Pakistani Minerals Investment Forum on April 8-9.
“FLSmidth will be launching a training program named BRIMM (Bradshaw Research Initiative for Minerals and Mining) under which hundred Pakistani engineers will be provided training,” the PID said, citing the Danish ambassador.
“FLSmidth has already entered into 5 partnership agreements in minerals sector of Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s landscape is a treasure trove of diverse mineral deposits from huge coal reserves in the southern Sindh province to gold and copper deposits in the southwestern Balochistan province. The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is home to several gemstone mines, including emerald mines in Swat, Mardan’s pink topaz mines, and peridot mines in Kohistan.
The South Asian country is currently making efforts to utilize these vast mineral resources through foreign investment and collaboration to stabilize its $350 billion economy.
Petroleum Minister Malik expressed Pakistan’s keen interest in leveraging Danish technology and investment to optimize resource extraction and processing as the South Asian country has significant mineral reserves. He extended his full support and offered the government’s good offices to facilitate Danish investment and technology transfer in Pakistan’s growing mining sector, according to the statement.
The ambassador reaffirmed Denmark’s support for Pakistan’s energy transition and industrial growth, and said they were looking forward to Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum.
“He noted that Danish companies are eager to share their expertise in green mining solutions, automation, and digitalization to help Pakistan achieve its economic and environmental objectives,” the PID said.
The meeting concluded with an agreement to facilitate further engagement between Pakistani stakeholders and Danish technology providers, with FLSmidth playing a pivotal role in advancing modern mining practices in Pakistan.
Danish firm to train Pakistani engineers as Islamabad seeks to exploit mineral resources
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Danish firm to train Pakistani engineers as Islamabad seeks to exploit mineral resources
- Pakistan’s landscape is a treasure trove of diverse mineral deposits from huge coal reserves to gold and copper deposits to gemstone
- The South Asian country is currently making efforts to utilize these vast mineral resources to stabilize its $350 billion fragile economy
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
