ISLAMABAD : Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said Pakistan has 297 billion tonnes of marble and granite reserves but its total export is around 53 million dollars per annum which can be enhanced to 2.5 billion dollars within a decade.

Pakistan is producing best quality marble and granite and it can earn huge foreign exchange while reducing unemployment by paying attention to this sector which has faced a decline of $16.55 million dollars in exports, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that Pakistan is the sixth largest extractor of marble and granite but its share in global extraction remains only two percent which invites intervention of federal and provincial governments.

Stakeholders are focused on exports of raw material resulting in ninety percent export of raw material to China and Italy while only ten percent of the marble is exported in finished form which is barring the development of this sector, he said.