Qatar has plans to invest at least $10 billion in U.S. ports and has been in talks with international banks for financing, in a move that will deepen U.S.-Qatar relations. While the plan is at a preliminary stage, Doha aims to invest in U.S. ports on the East Coast that will be developed in phases.

The Congress approved President Joe Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment plan in November. The plan includes $5.22 billion of federal funding for port specific programs, which is short of the estimated tens of billions of dollars needed.

U.S. transport secretary Pete Buttigieg said in November at a news briefing with the Port of Los Angeles that while the government was delivering a historic funding for infrastructure, it can’t be all from federal budget. Buttigieg added that local, state and private partners should be involved to have the kinds of resources needed.

There are around 360 ports in the United States.

While Qatar doesn’t have a large amount of investments in overseas port, last year the state’s commercial ports operator QTerminals purchased the Turkish port of Akdeniz and reached an agreement with Ukraine to develop the Black Sea port of Olvia.

The U.S.-Qatar relations have been deepening since the Gulf state forged close ties with the Taliban, playing an important role that led to the U.S. troop pullout from Afghanistan this year. In November, the two countries signed an agreement for Qatar to represent U.S. diplomatic interests in Afghanistan.