Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have agreed to further institutionalise their cooperation under the Makkah Agreement to strengthen collective deterrence and defence, with the alliance’s secretariat to be initially headed by Pakistan for three years, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Monday.
The decision was taken at the first meeting of the Strategic Political and Defence Committee of the Makkah Agreement, held in Istanbul.
Foreign and defence ministers of the three countries, as well as top military officials, attended the meeting in Istanbul’s Ciragan Palace.
Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif represented Pakistan.
According to the FO, a secretariat headed by a secretary general will be established in Saudi Arabia to support the alliance’s work under the agreement. The secretariat will initially be headed by a secretary general from Pakistan for a period of three years.
