Islamabad: Foreign Minister (FM) Ishaq Dar held a high level telephone call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty late on Tuesday to review bilateral relations and enhance coordination on regional developments. According to the Foreign Office (FO), both leaders agreed on the necessity of closer consultations through the Regional Four (R4) Foreign Ministers framework a diplomatic grouping comprising Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye. Reaffirming the fraternal bond between Islamabad and Cairo, the two ministers also agreed to hold a formal bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York.
The high level exchange underlines the growing reliance on the R4 platform, which was established earlier this year to address regional crises, mitigate the impact of US Iran tensions, and foster long term stability across the broader Middle East. The latest discussions follow quartet talks held in Istanbul late last month, marking the first major R4 engagement since Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye signed the historic Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on August 7. That defensive pact commits its three signatories to collective defence, stipulating that an armed attack against one member will be treated as an attack against all, alongside deeper military coordination and shared defence technology.
Egypt's potential alignment with the evolving regional security setup remains a central focus of these ongoing engagements. Although Turkish officials had previously indicated Cairo might join the new arrangement given its substantial military footprint and strategic weight, Egypt was not a signatory when the Makkah pact was concluded. The continuing dialogue within the R4 structure allows all four nations to synchronize political strategies and assess Cairo’s role in the regional security architecture without requiring its immediate formal accession to the military alliance.
