Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agree to establish secretariat under joint defence pact

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Turkey's Defence Minister Yasar Guler, Turkish Chief of General Staff General Selcuk Bayraktaroglu, Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Saudi Arabia's Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, and Saudi Arabia's Chief of General Staff General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili pose before the first committee meeting under the joint defence accord, the "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement", in Istanbul, Turkey, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Aug 31 (Reuters) - ⁠Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan ⁠agreed to establish a ‌secretariat in Saudi Arabia under their Mecca joint defence agreement, which will initially ​be headed by ⁠a Pakistani secretary-general ⁠for three years, the three countries ⁠said ‌in a joint statement on Monday.

• The ⁠three countries' representatives met in Istanbul ​on ‌Monday.

• The countries will work ⁠to ​strengthen their collective defence capabilities and cohesion of their armed ⁠forces, the statement said.

• ​The "Mecca Joint Defence Agreement," signed in early August, is intended to ⁠strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression and stipulates that an armed attack against ​any of ⁠the three would be regarded as ​an attack on ‌all.

(Reporting by Yasmine ​Ghania and Menna Alaa El DinEditing by Tomasz Janowski)