ISLAMABAD: Major international companies from the US, Australia, South Africa and other nations have praised a global minerals summit hosted by Pakistan this week for opening up opportunities for investment in the country’s vast natural reserves, estimated to be worth $6 trillion.

The Pakistan Minerals Summit, aimed at attracting foreign investment in the country’s mining sector, saw participation from major international companies including Canada-based Barrick Gold and government officials from the United States, Saudi Arabia, China, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, Azerbaijan and other nations. 

Pakistan is home to one of the world’s largest porphyry copper-gold mineral zones, while the Reko Diq mine in southwestern Balochistan province has an estimated 5.9 billion tons of ore. Barrick Gold, which owns a 50 percent stake in the Reko Diq mines, considers them one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas, and their development is expected to have a significant impact on Pakistan’s struggling economy.

But despite rich reserves of salt, copper, gold and coal, Pakistan’s mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports. The country is now aiming to tap into this underutilized potential.

“This is really a great event so far for me. I’m meeting some great people, learning about the culture and the event is probably one of the best events we’ve been to recently,” Dave Williams, the CEO of Mudex, an Australian drilling fluids company, said in an interview to Radio Pakistan. 

Mudex is based in Perth, specializing in the production and supply of environmentally friendly drilling fluids for industries such as mining, civil construction, water wells and horizontal directional drilling. Founded in 2014, Mudex offers a wide range of drilling fluid products including viscosifiers, lubricants, foaming agents and lost circulation materials. 

“The networking and all has been really good … Being able to understand the immensity of the work that is happening in Pakistan at the moment,” the Mudex CEO said about the minerals summit.

Sohail Kiani, president of Canada’s SARF, said he was pleased to see Pakistani “finally recognizing its potential” in the minerals sector.

“Pakistan is a copper country and in the coming years, copper is going to become very important,” he said. 

Pakistan’s copper reserves are estimated to be around 6.5 billion tons. 

“The geology of this country is very conducive to taking out minerals which the world needs but obviously they’ve been in the ground for millions of years so we need to have a robust policy,” Kiani added.

Leah Boyer Saifullah, Senior Policy Adviser for the Critical Minerals Forum in Washington DC, described the minerals summit as “incredible.” 

“I’m so glad to see Pakistan coming to the table, being part of this discussion,” she said. “I think this is going to be incredible for the country and for Pak-US relations.”

Tabassum Qadir, the CEO of Uprise Commodities Africa, said she was attending the mineral summit to explore opportunities at the Thar coal mines, located in southern Pakistan. They represent a significant source of lignite coal reserves in the country and are being developed for power generation. 

“There is a gasification feasibility done in South Africa, which I want to implement in Pakistan,” Qadir said. 

The businesswoman’s investment signals a renewed effort to harness Pakistan’s Thar coal reserves through gasification technology, which converts coal into synthetic gas for industrial use. 

The initiative can reduce energy costs, alleviate the country’s growing fuel import bill and provide a domestic alternative to costly liquefied natural gas.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to act “decisively” against Israeli airstrikes in Syria which were damaging civilian infrastructure and urban centers and causing civilian deaths, the country’s permanent mission to the UN said on Friday.

Israel took advantage of the fall of former Syrian president Bashar Assad’s long-standing regime in December to expand its military presence in Syria. It now controls a 400-square-km demilitarized buffer zone, supports the Druze minority and opposes the current Syrian leadership.

Israel has recently stepped up airstrikes on Syria, which it described as a warning to the newly formed government in Damascus. Israel says it is targeting military headquarters and sites containing weapons and ammunition.

“Pakistan is deeply alarmed by Israel’s ongoing and escalating attacks on
sovereign Syrian territory,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, told the 15-member UNSC during a briefing session on Syria. 

“The recent airstrikes targeting multiple locations in Syria, including civilian infrastructure and urban centers, have caused civilian casualties and pose a grave threat to regional and international peace and security.”

He said the world was witnessing a “deeply troubling pattern” of continued, unprovoked Israeli military aggression, repeated violations of the Disengagement Agreement, an illegal military presence in the Area of Separation, and open declarations of indefinite occupation. 

“This blatant disregard for Syria’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity must be unequivocally condemned,” Ahmad said. “The [UN] Council must demand Israel’s complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights.”

The Agreement on Disengagement between Israel and Syria, signed on May 31, 1974, maintained the existing ceasefire and called for the separation of opposing parties by a UN Peacekeeping Force. 

After Assad’s fall, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who led anti-regime forces, was declared president for a transitional period in late January. 

Israel said it will not tolerate an Islamist militant presence in southern Syria and has deployed troops into Syria’s border zone. However, Syria’s leadership has indicated it does not intend to open a front against Israel.

Ahmad said Israeli actions were undermining Syria’s efforts for “political stabilization” and “national reconciliation,” setting dangerous precedents in the region.

Warning that continued Israeli escalations could ignite a wider conflict, Ahmad said diplomacy, de-escalation and reconstruction should be the world’s top priorities.

He also demanded the UNSC condemn Israel’s blatant disregard for Syrian sovereignty and reiterated Pakistan’s support for a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process.