/Reuters Agency
Advisors to the head of Pakistan’s army, Field Marshal Asim Munir, have approached U.S. officials with a proposal to build and operate a port on the Arabian Sea, the Financial Times newspaper reported, citing a plan it had accessed.
The project envisions U.S. investors building and managing a terminal to access Pakistan’s strategic minerals in the town of Pasni, according to the FT. Pasni is a port city located in the Gwadar district, in the province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.
The initiative comes after Munir, together with Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, held a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in September. In that meeting, Sharif requested investments from U.S. companies in the agriculture, technology, mining, and energy sectors.
According to the Financial Times, the proposal was presented to some U.S. officials and shared with Munir before a meeting with Trump at the White House at the end of last month.
The plan excludes the use of the port for U.S. military bases, and instead seeks to attract financing for the development of a railway network connecting the port to the mineral-rich western provinces, the newspaper added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The U.S. State Department, the White House, and Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was also not immediately possible to contact the Pakistan Army.
