Pakistan is considering a plan to build a natural gas pipeline from the Arabian Sea to China, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said.

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"The pipeline can bring gas to Pakistan and then to China, which will avoid going around the Malacca Strait," Aziz said in an interview on April 21.

Aziz also said that Pakistan has a "unique" relationship with China that will help his country develop. "Chinese companies are looking at Pakistan and our infrastructure needs: energy, roads, highways, airports, ports," he said.

Pakistan and China agreed a year ago to cooperate on energy, including the construction of an oil refinery and a storage facility in Pakistan's coastal areas to help China gain access to oil and gas from Central Asia and the Middle East. China is helping Pakistan build its third port at Gwadar in Baluchistan.

Pakistan and India are negotiating the rates for buying and distributing gas through a separate pipeline from Iran to South Asia, Aziz said during the annual Boao forum in China's southern island of Hainan.

"We are going to build energy pipelines in the region and meet our energy needs through the most efficient way," he said. "Our national interest dictates that we create more options and opportunities for energy flow into Pakistan."

Aziz invited companies in China, Pakistan's biggest trading partner after the U.S., to invest in the nation and signed a free-trade agreement in November.

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