Pakistani officials have offered U.S. an offer to build and operate a port in Pasni town in the strategic Balochistan province on the Arabian Sea, The Financial Times reported.
The U.S. and Pakistan have not officially commented on the proposal.
According to the plan, seen by the Financial Times, American investors could develop the seaside fishing town of Pasni as a terminal for access to Pakistan’s critical minerals.
Paani is just 100 miles from Iran and 70 miles from the Pakistani city of Gwadar, where China has built a deep seaport on the culmination point a multibillion-dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The paper said advisers to Pakistan’s military chief Asim Munir approached US officials with an offer to build and run a port.
The initiative is not official policy, the report said.
The offer has been floated with some American officials and was shared with Munir ahead of a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House late last month, the FT reported citing two advisers to the army chief.
However, a senior Trump administration official said the US president and his advisers had not discussed such a proposal.
The U.S.-Pakistan relationship has seen a marked turnaround this summer even as Washington’s ties with New Delhi have dipped following differences over U.S. trade tariffs and Indian commercial restrictions.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Asim Munir met with U.S. President at the White House last month during which President Trump was also presented a collection of rare minerals in Pakistan.
Balochistan is a mineral-rich province, and some estimates put its natural wealth in several trillion dollars.
Pakistan is one of the few countries to have developed close ties with the United States and China, the two largest world economies and geopolitical competitors for influence.
Iran is also close to the area of proposed port.
“Pasni’s proximity to Iran and Central Asia enhances US options for trade and security . . . Engagement at Pasni would counterbalance Gwadar . . . and expand US influence in the Arabian Sea and Central Asia,” the FT report said citing the blueprint of the project estimated to cost $1.2 billion.
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Iftikhar Ali is a veteran Pakistani journalist, former president of UN Correspondents Association, and a recipient of the Pride of Performance civil award
