Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have prepared a draft defence agreement after nearly a year of talks, Pakistan’s Minister for Defence Production said, a signal they could be seeking a bulwark against a flare-up of regional violence in the last two years.
Raza Hayat Harraj told the global media outlet that the potential deal between the three regional powers was separate from a bilateral Saudi-Pakistani accord announced last year. A final consensus between the three states is needed to complete the deal, he said.
“The Pakistan-Saudi Arabia-Turkey trilateral agreement is something that is already in pipeline,” Harraj said in an interview.
“The draft agreement is already available with us. The draft agreement is already with Saudi Arabia. The draft agreement is already available with Turkey. And all three countries are deliberating. And this agreement has been there for the last 10 months.”
Responding to questions at a press conference in Istanbul on Thursday about media reports on trilateral negotiations, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan confirmed that the three sides had held talks but had not signed any agreement.
Fidan stressed the need to strengthen regional cooperation and mutual trust to overcome distrust, which he said creates “cracks and problems” and allows external hegemonies to emerge, as well as fuels wars and instability driven by terrorism in the region.
“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,” Fidan said. Regional issues could be resolved if relevant countries would “be sure of each other,” he added.
“At the moment, there are meetings, talks, but we have not signed any agreement. Our President (Tayyip Erdogan)’s vision is for an inclusive platform that creates wider, bigger cooperation and stability,” Fidan said, without naming any country.
