Bangladesh will positively consider Mecca Pact membership if invited: Foreign Minister

Bangladesh will positively consider joining the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement if member countries want the country to become part of the pact, Foreign Minister Dr Khalilur Rahman said on Thursday.

He made the remarks in response to a question from Member of Parliament Rumeen Farhana during the first day of the third session of the 13th Parliament.

Asked about the potential benefits of joining the pact, Khalilur said Bangladesh views the initiative positively, but the time has not yet come to discuss whether the country will join it.

He said Bangladesh’s participation would depend on whether the existing member countries want to expand the pact. “If they want Bangladesh to be a member of it, Bangladesh would definitely take it positively,” he said.

The foreign minister said an expanded pact could become a mechanism for the self-defence of the global Muslim community.

“This is an internal matter of the Muslim family. Therefore, there is no reason for others to be concerned about it,” he said.

The Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed earlier this month by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, providing for enhanced defence cooperation and collective deterrence. Under the agreement, an armed attack on any one of the three countries is to be treated as an attack on all.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir had earlier said Bangladesh was interested in the initiative, noting that participation in a security pact among Islamic nations would not be unusual.