ISLAMABAD: President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI), Yasir Sakhi Butt said that marble and granite sector is fast growing sector in the country with huge investment potential. Foreign business community should come forward and invest in marble and granite industry of Pakistan.

According to press release issued here on Wednesday, these remarks were made by Butt, while in a meeting with Altan Agaoglu, Member of Board, Investment Consultancy Inspection, Turkey.

President ICCI said that Turkey was one of the few big manufacturers of ceramic tiles, marble and granite processing equipment. He said that there was an increasing demand for these machines in Pakistan, adding that Pakistan was currently using equipment imported from Germany for the processing of these stones and by establishing close relations in this field, Pakistan could start procuring processing machines from Turkey.

He said marble and granite was among the major minerals extracted in Pakistan after coal, rock salt, limestone and China clay, but there was still lot more potential to develop this sector.

Butt said that Pakistan has processing Units with complete range of machinery and equipment capable of processing stones in accordance with International Standards, adding that there was no problem of quantity.

Speaking on the occasion, Altan Agaoglu said that the aim of his visit to ICCI was to explore the possibilities of investment potential in Pakistan抯 marble and granite. He said that Turkey has more than 8000 workshops and warehouses for marble processing. He said that there was tremendous scope for cooperation between the two countries in precious stones business.