Khwera Salt still awaits to be marketed internationally
If a child was born on 14th August 1947, he will be 75 this year. That man will most probably admit that he lived a lifetime. “I have done a lot of things in my life that I am proud of”, he might say. Pakistan will celebrate its 75th birthday this August but the country still cannot say that it has done a lot of things. It is astonishing to know that Khwera Salt is still not registered with international trade organizations.
A piece of recent news in print media has revealed that Khwera Salt is going to be registered for international trade. According to the story, Indian traders have been benefiting from the situation all that time while marketing these rocks as Himalayan Pink Salt.
Since class one, kids are made to memorize that Khwera Salt Mines are the 2nd largest reserve of slat in the world. We all know it’s there, we know we can sell it to the world, yet Khwera Salt is not even registered for marketing at the international level. What remains to be expected from the country’s business community, exporters, and the state machinery.
For the first time in the country’s history, PMDC (Pakistan Minerals Development Corporation) is going to be the registered agency for rock salt production in the country. This milestone was achieved by Federal Government recently when the cabinet approved the PMDC.
The existence of PMDC has just a glimmer of hope for Khwera Salt as the agency has begun to finalize requirements to file for the registration of Khwera salt with the Geographical Indications (GI) registry. The process will be completed under the aegis of the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan (IPO-Pakistan). First, IPO-Pakistan will have to get all the necessary paperwork done only then Pakistan will be able to go for foreign market registrations. There could be one hundred and one reasons behind our inability to market Khwera Salt. Some say that salt is not a feasible commodity for export. Some blame the system. Some would even argue that GI rules were not formulated until January this year. It all boils down to one conclusion that we are working in the wrong direction if working at all.
