Istanbul: Senior officials from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are set to meet in Istanbul for the first committee meeting under a defence agreement signed by the three countries earlier this month.
Foreign and defence ministers as well as the chiefs of staff from the three countries will attend the meeting on Monday, according to a Turkish foreign ministry source cited by Reuters.
The meeting follows the signing of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on August 7 by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The agreement seeks to strengthen cooperation among the three countries and provides that an armed attack against any one of them would be regarded as an attack against all three.
The Istanbul meeting is expected to focus on broader international security issues as well as practical areas of defence cooperation. Discussions will include strengthening defence capabilities, improving coordination among the armed forces and expanding cooperation in the defence industry, including joint production and development.
The agreement comes amid heightened security concerns across the Middle East, particularly following the continuing conflict involving Iran and wider tensions affecting Gulf states. However, Turkey has said the arrangement is not intended to replace the countries’ existing alliances.
Turkey, which has NATO’s second largest military, has also indicated that the agreement could be expanded to include other countries. Egypt has been mentioned as a potential future participant.
For Pakistan, the agreement brings together its longstanding defence relationship with Turkey and its strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia within a formal trilateral framework. The first committee meeting will provide an opportunity for the three countries to establish mechanisms for implementing the agreement and identify areas for deeper military and defence industry cooperation.
The meeting also marks an early step in translating the agreement into practical cooperation, with its outcomes likely to indicate how the three countries intend to develop their collective defence arrangements while maintaining their existing international partnerships.
