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Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on Friday signed a joint defence pact in Makkah that empowers member states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them. The Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, which seeks to strengthen the collective security of the three states, was signed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Saudi Crown Prince and PM Mohammad bin Salman, and Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the “Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence” held at Al-Safa Palace. The three countries announced the signing of the agreement in a joint statement published by the Foreign Office (FO) and Saudi Arabia’s official SPA press agency. The statement said the pact reflected the three countries’ “shared commitment to further strengthening their collective security and to promoting peace, security, and stability in the region and beyond, in pursuit of a secure and prosperous future”. “The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.” It also “provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defence cooperation” among the three countries, the statement added.