By P.K.Balachandran/The Daily Times of Bangladesh
Colombo, February 25 – The US-Pakistan deal for the reclamation and operation of the iconic Roosevelt Hotel in New York City signed on February 19, is yet another landmark in the growing strategic partnership between the US and Pakistan.
The MOU signed by the US government and the Pakistan Ministry of Defence was negotiated by the US Special Envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has a close relationship with the powerful Pakistan Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The Deal
The agreement says that the project will be “facilitated by the United States General Services Administration (GSA) and by the Pakistan Ministry of Defence.” Therefore, it is a government-to-government deal.
The hotel was the property of the state-owned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). But it was privatised in December 2025.
In 2024, Pakistan’s Privatisation Commission began looking for a broker to help revive the 1025-room Roosevelt Hotel which had the potential to be redeveloped into a 1.8-million-square-foot office building.
The Pakistan government hired New York property agent JLL to market the property either for an outright sale or a joint venture development partnership. But JLL left in July. In late November 2024, a team of Global Commercial Real Estate Services (CBRE) and Morgan Stanley became the frontrunner to win the marketing assignment.
In the meantime, the Pakistani government ruled out an outright sale of the property. Under the present plan, the Pakistan government would contribute the land to the venture while a development partner would put up about US $ 1 billion in equity; the Joint Venture would take on another U$ 2 billion to US$3 billion in debt.
The Pakistan government aims to have an ownership stake of around 40 to 50%.
The Roosevelt Hotel, located at 45 East 45th Street in Midtown Manhattan near the Grand Central Terminal, was closed in 2025, despite its enviable location and reputation. From 2023 to 2025 it was used by the New York City government to house illegal immigrants.
The 19-storey building, named after former US President Theodore Roosevelt — had opened its doors to America’s rich and famous in 1924. In 1979, an American real estate developer Paul Milstein leased the hotel to Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). In 2000, PIA and Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid bought the hotel. Later, the PIA acquired Prince Faisal’s ownership stake.
In 2020, the hotel closed due to continued financial losses associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023, it reopened but only as a shelter for asylum seekers.
Geo-political Dimension of the Deal
The UD-Pakistan government Roosevelt Hotel deal has come at a time when Pakistan has gotten very close to the US and vice versa.
Pakistan has its inhibition about joining President Trump’s controversial Board of Peace (BOP) for the development of war-torn Gaza. Pakistan is a full member of the BOP in contrast to its rival, India, which has opted for Observer status, reflecting its fraught relationship with President Trump.
Earlier in May 2025, Pakistan had openly acknowledged Trump’s role in bringing about a ceasefire in the four-day air war with India. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif supported Trump’s bid to get a Nobel Prize for ending the war. On the contrary, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, refrained from giving Trump any credit. He also did not participate in the Sharm-el-Sheikh conference on Trump’s proposal for peace in Gaza.
Pleased with Pakistan, President Trump hailed Shahbaz Sharif as “a great leader, great guy,” and Asim Munir as his “favourite Field Marshal”. He again declared that the Pakistan Air Force had downed “beautiful” Indian jets , 11 according to him, in the May 2025 war, rubbing salt into the wounded Indian ego.
Rare Earths and Crypto Currency Deals
In September 2025, Prime Minister Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir met President Trump in the Oval Office at the White House and showed him samples of rare earths and other minerals from Pakistan and invited US investment in their mining and processing.
In January 2026, Pakistan inked a deal with a Trump-linked crypto firm to explore a US dollar backed stablecoin. The company is affiliated to World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform linked to the family of President Trump.
The Pakistan Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (PVARA) said, in a statement, that it had signed an MOU with SC Financial Technologies, described as an affiliated entity of World Liberty Financial.
This development marked one of the first publicly announced partnerships between World Liberty Financial—a crypto-based finance platform launched in September 2024—and a sovereign State.
The announcement came during a visit to Pakistan by Zach Witkoff, co-founder and CEO of World Liberty Financial and CEO of SC Financial Technologies.
Zach Witkoff, son of US special envoy Steve Witkoff, met with senior Pakistani stakeholders to discuss digital payment infrastructure, cross-border settlements, and foreign exchange processes.
SC Financial Technologies, registered in Delaware, co-owns the USD1 stablecoin brand with World Liberty Financial.
World Liberty fuelled a sharp increase in income for the Trump family business, known as the Trump Organisation, including from foreign entities, in the first half of last year, Reuters reported in October 2025.
Pakistan has been exploring digital currency initiatives as part of efforts to reduce cash usage and improve cross-border payments, including remittances, a key source of foreign exchange.
The high-level signing ceremony was witnessed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar.
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