Pakistan offers US Arabian Sea port, pitches it as terminal to ship minerals: Report

“The offer has been floated with some US officials, and was shared with (Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim) Munir ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump in the White House late last month, according to two civilian advisers to the army chief who both asked not to be named. But a senior Trump administration official said the US president and his advisers had not discussed such a proposal. The scheme is one of several ideas floated publicly and privately by Pakistani officials to maintain momentum with the Trump administration,” the Financial Times reported.

“The proposed port at Pasni would be linked to a new railway to transport minerals from Pakistan’s interior, the advisers said, in particular copper and antimony, a vital ingredient in batteries, fire-retardant and missiles. A blueprint anticipated the port would cost up to $1.2bn with a proposed financing model that would be a mix of Pakistani federal and US-backed development finance,” the FT report said.

On Sunday, Arab News reported that a senior security official told state-run Pakistan TV that Pakistan has not offered the US access to a proposed port at Pasni. The senior security official also told Pakistan TV that the FT report did not represent official government or military policy.

“Conversations with private companies were exploratory, not official initiatives,” the state-run digital outlet quoted him as saying on condition of anonymity.

“There is no plan to hand over Pasni’s security to any foreign power. The Chief of Army Staff does not have advisers in any official capacity. Linking these ideas directly to him is misleading and inaccurate,” the officials said, adding, “Pasni’s location may make it significant in global geopolitics… but at this stage, it is only an idea, not an initiative.”

The US State Department, White House and Pakistan’s army and foreign ministry have not commented on the FT report.

Pakistan and the US have already signed a deal to tap into Pakistan’s minerals. In September, Missouri-based US Strategic Metals (USSM) signed an MoU with Pakistan’s military engineering arm.

“Mike Hollomon, USSM commercial director, said the company aspired to set up a refinery and last month met directors of Pakistan’s two major ports at and near Karachi, as well as a representative from Gwadar during a visit to the South Asian country. Hollomon added that USSM had heard talk of a possible port project near Pasni. The town had a natural deep-water port and could be linked by rail to Reko Diq, a copper and gold mine being developed by Canada’s Barrick Mining, so it made ‘a lot of sense’ to set up a facility in the area, he said. Late last month, Pakistan shipped a modest first consignment of fewer than two tonnes of critical and rare earth minerals to USSM that included copper, antimony and neodymium. The price of antimony has soared since Beijing imposed a ban on selling it to the US late last year,” the FT report said.

This is also in sync with Pakistan and US engagement over the last six months, especially after the hostilities between India and Pakistan in May this year.

The FT report said, “Munir and Trump have forged what US and Pakistani diplomats are referring to as ‘a bromance’ since the American president claimed credit in May for a ceasefire that ended the worst fighting between Pakistan and India in decades. While India has rejected Trump’s claims of involvement in the ceasefire, Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have publicly thanked him and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

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