Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye are nearing a defense agreement after nearly a year of talks, Defense Production Minister Raza Hayat Harraj has told the Reuters news agency, adding that this will be separate from the bilateral Saudi-Pakistani accord announced last year.
According to the news agency, final consensus between the three states is needed to complete the deal. “The Pakistan-Saudi Arabia-Turkiye trilateral agreement is something that is already in pipeline,” he said. “The draft agreement is already available with us. The draft agreement is already with Saudi Arabia. The draft agreement is already available with Turkiye. And all three countries are deliberating. And this agreement has been there for the last 10 months,” he added.
Earlier, addressing a press conference in Istabul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said talks on the proposed deal had taken place but noted no agreement had been signed. He said Turkiye believed I the need for broader regional cooperation and trust to overcome distrust that creates “cracks and problems” that led to the emergence of external hegemonies, or wars and instability stemming from terrorism.
“At the end of all of these, we have a proposal like this: all regional nations must come together to create a cooperation platform on the issue of security,” he said, emphasizing that regional issues could be resolved if relevant countries would “be sure of each other.”
The defense production minister’s statement follows a report from Bloomberg last week that had claimed Ankara was at an “advanced stage of discussions” to join the Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.