Ammon News - Top officials from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are expected to gather in Istanbul for the first committee meeting under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, the Turkish foreign ministry says.

The talks will focus on international security and ways to deepen defense cooperation between the three countries.

Foreign and defense ministers, as well as army chiefs of staff from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, are expected to participate in the Istanbul meeting.

The gathering comes weeks after the three countries signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement in the holy city of Mecca on Aug. 7. The pact established a framework for closer defense cooperation and stipulates that an armed attack against any one of the three countries would be treated as an attack against all three.

Ankara has said the countries would establish mechanisms to coordinate their cooperation, including joint military exercises and collaboration in defense industries.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has described the agreement as technically comparable to NATO’s Article 5 mutual-defense provision, while Pakistan has stressed that the pact is defensive in nature and is not directed against any particular country.


Al Arabiya English