The Foreign Office (FO) of Pakistan said on Thursday that the Mecca Defence Alliance between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye was “defensive” in nature, adding that expansion of the pact was currently “not on the cards”, Pakistan-daily Dawn reports.

The report said FO spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan made the remarks while addressing a weekly press briefing. 

Sajjad was quoted as saying that the pact was primarily a “defensive alliance to ensure regional security primarily through deterrence”.

He further said expansion of the pact was currently “not on the cards”, adding that “Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye must first further consolidate their organisation and cooperation”.

“At this stage, there are no discussions regarding the expansion of the Mecca agreement,” he said.

He, however, said the agreement would be open to all countries that “share similar stances and perspectives” once the consolidation was completed.

Sajjad said information on future meetings will be shared “on an ongoing basis”, adding that exact timing was not yet known.

“Significant work lies ahead to finalise the organisation’s structure, mechanisms, and procedures,” he said, adding that any future developments will become clear in due course.

Bangladesh had mulled joining the Mecca Pact, which was signed between Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan on August 7, with an eye to strengthening collective deterrence and empowering its signatory states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them.

Its inaugural meeting was held on August 31 in Istanbul, where it was decided that a secretariat headed by a secretary general will be established in Saudi Arabia to support the alliance’s work under the agreement. 

The secretariat will initially be headed by a secretary general from Pakistan for a period of three years.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman said Bangladesh would positively consider joining the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement if member countries wanted the country to become part of the pact. 

Speaking on the pact on August 31, Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman reiterated that the "Mecca Pact" was an internal matter of the world Muslim family" and that there was no reason for anyone to be upset or worried about this.

“This is not a matter of threatening. This is not a matter of attacking anyone. This is a matter of self-defense of our world Muslim family. So I do not see any reason for anyone to be upset or worried about this,” he said.

He, however, did not commit whether Bangladesh would be joining or not. 

Since then, Bangladesh had been assessing the situation surrounding the proposed pact before deciding whether to join the alliance.

“We are assessing the situation regarding participation in the Mecca Pact. Bangladesh’s interests will be considered first before joining the alliance,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam told reporters on September 1.

She said Bangladesh’s national interest would be the foremost consideration in taking any decision regarding participation in the proposed grouping.