First meeting under Makkah defence pact set for Istanbul

ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defense Committee established under the Mecca Joint Defense Treaty between Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia will be held in Istanbul on August 31.

According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, the meeting will be attended by the foreign and defense ministers and military leadership of the three countries. Turkey will be represented by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler and Chief of General Staff General Selçuk Bayraktar oglu.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir will attend the meeting from Pakistan. Saudi Arabia will be represented by Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman and Chief of General Staff General Fayyaz bin Hamid Al Ruwaily.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Istanbul on Sunday. He arrived in Turkey after completing an official visit to the United Kingdom, where the Pakistani delegation will participate in the first meeting to be held under the Mecca Defense Treaty.

The meeting will discuss the international security situation and defense cooperation in the region. The three countries will also discuss ways to improve their defense capabilities and enhance coordination and joint operations between their armed forces.

Cooperation in the defense industry will also be among the key topics of the meeting. In this regard, the possibilities of joint defense production, research and development will be reviewed. Strengthening cooperation against terrorism is also expected to be discussed.

The framework for the secretariat and other institutional mechanisms for the committee is also expected to be finalized in the meeting. Along with this, work will also be done to prepare a practical roadmap for future cooperation under the Mecca Defense Agreement.

This meeting is important in that it will be the first major step towards implementing the defense agreement signed between the three countries. This will try to transform defense cooperation into a regular institutional system.

The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Mecca on August 7.

Under the agreement, the three countries have agreed to strengthen joint defense and security cooperation. According to the key clause of the agreement, an armed attack on one of the countries will be considered an attack on all three countries.

The three countries say that the aim of the agreement is to promote peace, security and stability in the region while increasing joint defense capabilities. The Istanbul meeting will be an important opportunity to determine practical steps to advance this cooperation.