Pakistan Proposes US Partnership for Strategic Arabian Sea Port Development to Access Critical Minerals

US President Donald Trump with Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir

According to a report in the Financial Times on Friday, advisers to Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir have reached out to US officials with a proposal to construct and operate a port on the Arabian Sea. The newspaper cited a plan it had reviewed.

The proposal outlines American investors building and managing a terminal in the town of Pasni to access Pakistan's valuable critical minerals. Pasni is located in the Gwadar District within Balochistan province, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

This initiative follows a September meeting at the White House between Field Marshal Munir, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and US President Donald Trump. During this meeting, Sharif invited US companies to invest in Pakistan's agriculture, technology, mining, and energy sectors.

The Financial Times reported that the port proposal was presented to certain US officials and was shared with Munir prior to his White House meeting with Trump last month.

According to the report, the proposed plan specifically excludes using the port for US military installations. Instead, it focuses on attracting development financing for a railway network that would connect the port to mineral-rich provinces in western Pakistan.

Reuters was unable to independently verify these details. Requests for comment from the US State Department, White House, and Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs received no immediate response. The Pakistani Army was also unavailable for immediate comment.