ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the United States (US) on Friday discussed ways to deepen economic and investment cooperation, the Pakistani foreign office said, with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar welcoming growing interest from American firms.
The statement came after Dar’s meeting with the US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker in Islamabad, a day after another US-based mining, exploration and development company, Nova Minerals, expressed interest in long-term investment in Pakistan’s mining and mineral sectors.
Pakistan has a vast and largely untapped potential in the mineral and mining sector, and the country offers promising investment opportunities across multiple areas, particularly in exploration and processing of high-value minerals.
Earlier this month, Pakistan launched its first Google Chromebook assembly line as a result of a public-private partnership involving the Pakistani government, Google and Tech Valley, along with the National Radio & Telecommunications Corporation’s (NRTC) and Allied Corporation.
“Highlighting the importance of enhancing bilateral economic and investment cooperation, particularly in IT & critical minerals, the DPM/FM welcomed growing interest of US companies to invest in Pakistan, including establishment of the Google Chrome assembly line in Haripur,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said.
“Both sides also exchanged views on regional & international developments.”
The development comes more than a month after Pakistan dispatched its first ever shipment of rare earth and critical minerals to the US, a Chicago-based public relations (PR) firm said, following a landmark $500 million deal between the two countries.
The agreement, signed between American firm US Strategic Metals (USSM) and Pakistan’s Frontier Works Organization (FWO), aimed to create a framework for joint development of the entire mineral value chain, including exploration, beneficiation, concentrate production and eventual establishment of refineries in Pakistan.
Pakistan indigenously sourced and prepared antimony, copper concentrate, and rare earth elements with neodymium and praseodymium for shipment, according to US firm PR Newswire. With this first delivery and a multi-phase investment framework underway, Pakistan is now positioned as a rising force in the global critical mineral economy.
“Such initiatives would help create an ecosystem conducive to further foreign investment in Pakistan’s mining sector,” the Pakistani government said earlier, citing Board of Investment (BOI) Minister Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh.
