The United States is shifting its focus to Pakistan in its continued quest for scarce and strategic minerals, after doing the same in Ukraine, Pakistan’s government said on Wednesday.
Islamabad has confirmed that top US official Eric Meyer from the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to convey American interest in Pakistan’s rich mineral resources, such as copper, gold, and lithium an important element in battery manufacturing.
The interest comes after it emerged that the Donald Trump government has been negotiating with Ukraine for almost half of its vital mineral revenues and infrastructure shares in return for continued military and financial aid against Russia.
Now, the same talks are happening with Pakistan. Meyer, who also visited the recent Minerals Investment Forum in Islamabad, recognized Pakistan’s huge potential in the mining industry. The summit was attended by key world players such as Canada’s Barrick Gold, along with the US, UK, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan officials.
In a statement by Sharif’s office, Pakistan is eager to tap its estimated trillions of dollars’ worth of mineral deposits to lure foreign investment and mitigate its economic crisis. But the Prime Minister made it clear that Islamabad is open to investment but will not permit the export of raw minerals. Foreign firms, instead, will be asked to process materials in Pakistan and ship out only value-added products.
Sharif also indicated a readiness to improve relations with the Trump administration and made it known that a Pakistani team will soon proceed to Washington for negotiations on the newly imposed US tariffs and discussion on ways of boosting bilateral trade.
A considerable amount of Pakistan’s mineral treasure is in strife-torn province of Balochistan, where an insurgency in progress has sent security alarms and possibly made the province more problematic for foreign investors.