CAIRO, 15 August. - (ANA) - Egypt is seriously considering joining the new joint defence agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Thursday.

 

Abdelatty made the remarks after talks with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, in the northern coastal city of El Alamein.

 

Asked at a joint press conference whether Cairo would enter the agreement, Abdelatty said the pact was being examined by the relevant Egyptian authorities in accordance with the constitution and any legal obligations that membership could entail.

 

The agreement, known as the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, was signed last Friday by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

 

It includes a collective defence provision modelled on NATO’s Article 5, under which an attack on one member would be treated as an attack on all three.

 

The pact was signed against the backdrop of a regional war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February. The conflict drew in regional states and disrupted shipping through both the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

 

Abdelatty said Egypt was also considering other regional security initiatives, including a Saudi proposal focused on Red Sea security, as the region faces what he described as "unprecedented challenges".

 

"We face many challenges in the region, and given this, we must remain in constant consultation," he said. "Today we held constructive talks with Mr Fidan, and senior officials also took part in these meetings. There is political will to advance our relations."

 

Turkish officials have signalled that Cairo may have been weighing participation since the agreement was announced.

 

On Saturday, one day after the pact was signed, Fidan said he expected Egypt to join the alliance, describing Cairo as a "natural partner on all issues".

 

"I believe that at the next stage Egypt will also be among us in the alliance," Fidan told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. "We already act toward one another as if we were alliance members. There are a few technical issues. Once these are implemented, there is no reason for Egypt not to be part of it."

 

The two officials said on Thursday they discussed a number of topics around the economy and trade relations, setting a bilateral trade target of $15 billion between the two sides. -(ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/15 August 2026 - - -