ISLAMABAD, Dec 20: The third two-day meeting of the mineral experts of ECO member states started here on Wednesday organised by the ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.

Mineral experts from Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan are attending the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, Director General Minerals Rashid Hussain Malik said that ECO member states have enormous mineral potential, which was yet to be tapped to its capacity.

He said that the meeting would provide an ample opportunity to explore ways and means for opening up avenues of cooperation in the mineral sector and learn a lot from each others experience in this vital field of economy.

Director General Geological Survey of Pakistan Mirza Talib Hassan highlighted the importance of the mineral experts’ deliberations, which would help to identify areas of cooperation among the member states to attract foreign investment.

Later, the meeting reviewed the updated progress on the decisions of the previous deliberations and considered issues of publishing a mineral data book and mineral distribution map etc.—APP