The U.S. announced plans November 8 to build a $553 million deep-water shipping container terminal in Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo in an attempt to keep pace with China in the international project development space.

The initiative will provide Sri Lanka with infrastructure that could potentially “transform Colombo into a world-class logistics hub at the intersection of major shipping routes and emerging markets," said the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), a financial institution and U.S. agency that invests in development projects located in lower and middle-income countries.

According to ABC News, DFC CEO Scott Nathan said that the $553 million loan will allow the terminal to “expand its shipping capacity, creating greater prosperity for Sri Lanka… while at the same strengthening the position of our allies across the region.”

“It's high priority for the United States to be active in the Indo-Pacific region," Nathan told reporters in Colombo following a visit to the site.

The DFC will make a direct loan to the consortium developing the terminal, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones Ltd., which owns 51% of the terminal. Other partners include John Keells Holdings and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority.

The Port of Colombo has been operating at or near capacity since 2021, so the new terminal will enable the continued growth of economies located in the Bay of Bengal, said the DFC.

The DFC was established in 2019 as part of the U.S.’s response to Beijing’s infrastructure-building campaign dubbed the Belt and Road Initiative. Through the BRI, China has invested billions of dollars annually to develop infrastructure in evolving nations, creating goodwill and new trade partnerships between China and other countries.