AJK Ready For Business Startups: Sardar Masood Khan

Azad Jammu & Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said the state was ready for investment in extractive industry, advanced medical, education, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, banking and hydropower generation

MIRPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Feb, 2018 ) :Azad Jammu & Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan said the state was ready for investment in extractive industry, advanced medical, education, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, banking and hydropower generation.

He was talking to prominent businessmen and academics belonging to Karachi on Wednesday. Earlier he visited the Job Fair and Startup Expo, organized by the Iqra University where more than 200 enterprises, corporations and businesses had come to pursue for talented graduates whom they could recruit.

The corporate entities included media networks, energy giants, banks, textiles and designs houses, and startups offering innovative solutions. The President said the Iqra University, being the number one business school in quality, is a trendsetter for other educational institutions for promoting employment through a proactive outreach towards industry.

He said AJK universities would also like to emulate this fine example by organizing job fairs on a large scale and inviting entrepreneurs and private and public sector entities for recruiting fresh graduates.

"This would help us reduce unemployment in AJK, which was 11.5 % at the moment", the President said. Sardar Masood Khan appreciated the recent initiative taken by the Iqra Univesity to host a conference of the Deans and Directors of Business Schools to prepare the universities for the job markets being shaped up in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

"There must be corporate compatibility between Pakistan and China, and more collaboration and cohesion between academia and industry in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir", he said. He said that, in the extractive industry, the maximum potential was in granite and marble and Azad Kashmir's indigenous investors and entrepreneurs were preparing the ground for joint ventures.

Meanwhile, a three-member delegation comprised of Honorary Counsel Czech Republic Ahmad Ansari, Interglobe Holdings Private Limited Directors Talha Ansari and Abbas Ansari called on the President and expressed their keenness in exploring prospective investment opportunities in Azad Kashmir, especially in the extractive industry.

The President said that Azad Kashmir's massive mineral deposits constituting granite, marble, and limestone provide huge potential for investment. The President also informed the delegation that apart from these minerals, Azad Kashmir is a treasure trove of minerals, semi-precious and precious stones like bentonite, bauxite, gold and coal, in varying quantities, along with some of the finest reserves of ruby, sapphire, topaz and tourmaline.

The President added that through research, enterprise, use of sophisticated machinery and public-private partnerships, minerals can be extracted through modern means to gain maximum output.