Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye have prepared a draft defence agreement after nearly a year of talks, Defence Production Minister Raza Hayat Harraj confirmed on Wednesday.
His confirmation follows a statement by the Turkish foreign minister about the potential deal earlier today.
Harraj told Reuters the potential deal between the three countries 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.”
Asked at a press conference in Istanbul earlier today about media reports on negotiations between the three sides, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said talks had been held but that no agreement had been signed.
Fidan pointed to a need for broader regional cooperation and trust to overcome distrust, which he said created “cracks and problems” that led to the emergence of external hegemonies or wars and instability stemming from 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 Pakistan or Saudi Arabia directly.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported last week that Turkiye was seeking to join the Pak-Saudi defence pact signed in September 2025.
The report said Turkiye viewed the pact “as a way of strengthening security and deterrents when there are questions over the reliability of the US, which has strong military ties with all three countries, and President Donald Trump’s commitment” to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).
Saudi Arabia brings financial clout, Pakistan has nuclear capability, ballistic missiles and manpower, while Turkiye has the military experience and has developed a defence industry, Bloomberg quoted Nihat Ali Ozcan, a strategist with Ankara-based think tank TEPAV, as saying.
Asked about reports of Istanbul eyeing such a pact, Defence Production Minister Raza Hayat Harraj told BBC Urdu: “From a strategic point of view, Turkiye, China, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan are close friendly countries of Pakistan, and there is a close relationship with them in terms of strategic policy.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had signed a “Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement” in Riyadh, pledging that any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both.
