A state-owned Chinese construction and port management company has signed an agreement with an aquaculture company to develop deep-sea aquaculture facilities in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan.

China Overseas Port Holding Company Limited, which is responsible for the construction and operation of Gwadar port in southern Pakistan, signed the agreement with Sanya Yazhou Bay Agriculture and Aquaculture Development Co.

The two companies have committed under the agreement to “in-depth cooperation around deep-sea aquaculture in the future,” according to a statement from the municipal government of Sanya in Hainan. The deal also binds the two companies to jointly build the Pakistan Gwadar Port-Hainan Province Yazhou Central Fishing Port Economic Zone.

The deal is part of a broader ambition to establish commercial ties between the operators of the Gwadar port and the island of Hainan, which is being promoted by the Chinese central government as a free port or hub for tax free trade and duty-free shopping.

Yu Bo, chairman of China Overseas Port Holding Company Limited, which is responsible for the construction and operation of Gwadar port, said in the release his company wants to cooperate in trade, logistics, industrial services, and talent exchange with Hainan Free Trade Port.

Sanya Yazhou Bay Agriculture and Aquaculture Development Co. imports and produces seedlings for the aquaculture industry in southern China while also producing seafood in its own aquaculture facilities.

Gwadar port has been a signature project of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor linking China to Pakistan. Connecting China via road to Gwadar had been seen as a strategic linkage for China, connecting its western regions to the Arabian Sea and wider Indian Ocean, thus giving China a new strategic trade route.

Yet, the Gwadar port remains little-used, and commerce in Baluchistan has been disrupted by political unrest. Recently, Gwadar has been the center of protests by locals and violence by armed and separatist groups. Earlier this year, eight men tried to enter the Gwadar Port Authority complex but were killed by security officials.