Top officials from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will gather in Istanbul on Monday for a first committee meeting under the joint defence accord that they signed this month, a Turkish foreign ministry source said.
Foreign and defence ministers, as well as the chiefs of staff, of the three countries will attend the meeting in Istanbul, the ministry source said.
“International security issues will be on the agenda,” the source said, with discussions expected to cover enhancing defence capabilities, greater interoperability among their armed forces and deepening cooperation in the defence industry, including joint production and development. Six months after the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran, negotiations are at an impasse and President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up efforts to punish Iran financially with what it has billed as an “economic D-Day”. Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest military, has said the pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan and top oil exporter Saudi Arabia was open to expansion — with Egypt as a potential candidate — and did not seek to replace existing alliances.
