Pakistan said 6–7 Muslim-majority countries have expressed interest in joining
the Mecca Joint Defense Pact. Senior diplomats from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and
Turkey met in Istanbul on Monday to discuss security and military cooperation;
Pakistan foreign minister Ishaq Dar said officials are drafting a framework to
ease accession but did not name the countries, with Bangladesh the latest to
signal interest. The pact, signed on Aug. 7, contains a mutual-defense clause
treating an armed attack on any signatory as an attack on all. Turkish foreign
minister Hakan Fidan said the pact could expand to other regional states,
including Egypt; Turkey’s foreign ministry said discussions would cover
international security, armed-forces interoperability and deeper
defense-industrial cooperation.
