Bangladesh will give positive consideration to joining the Mecca Pact, the trilateral defence agreement signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, should its members propose bringing Dhaka into the framework, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman told Parliament on Thursday (August 27, 2026). The BNP-led government’s such consideration has also drawn support from the country’s main Opposition parties, including Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and the National Citizen Party (NCP).
Responding to a supplementary question from independent Member of Parliament Rumin Farhana during the third session of the 13th Parliament, Mr. Rahman said Bangladesh’s accession to the pact was not currently under discussion and would depend on the intentions of the agreement’s existing signatories.
“If they express interest in bringing Bangladesh into this pact, the government will certainly consider it positively,” he said.
Ms. Farhana had asked what benefits Bangladesh stood to gain from joining the pact, signed on August 7, and whether Dhaka intended to do so.
Mr. Rahman said the government viewed the agreement, struck between the three countries, as a positive development, but that the question of Bangladesh’s membership had “not yet arisen,” since no formal proposal had been extended.
“The time has not yet come to weigh the pros and cons of the pact before a proposal for Bangladesh’s inclusion is made,” he said, adding that the government would take all aspects into account if and when such a proposal materialised.
“We will certainly keep all these matters under consideration,” the Minister said.
Mr. Rahman also suggested the pact could, if expanded further, evolve into a collective self-defence mechanism for the wider Muslim world.
“This is our family. This is an internal matter of the Muslim family. Others need not be concerned about it,”
Replying to another supplementary question from Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami lawmaker Mir Ahmad Bin Quasem, the Foreign Minister also said Bangladesh would use its presidency of the United Nations General Assembly to serve all 193 member states rather than pursue the interests of any particular country.
Opposition parties voice support
The government’s such move draws swift endorsement from the key opposition parties. Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, said on Thursday that any decision to join the Mecca Pact is entirely Bangladesh’s own affair.
“If Bangladesh makes a decision in the interests and for the needs of the country and its people, there is no reason for anyone else to feel suffocated by it,” he added.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) went further, welcoming the possibility of Bangladesh’s entry outright. In a press release on Wednesday (August 26, 2026), the party said the pact, signed in Mecca on August 7 by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, could open avenues for political and military coordination and cooperation in defence technology, strengthening Bangladesh’s security, trade and strategic ties with key countries in the Muslim world.
The party cautioned, however, that any decision to join a collective defence framework should rest on a comprehensive assessment of the country’s long-term national interests, security and strategic capabilities, rather than on political considerations or immediate diplomatic calculations.
The party, that led July uprising and ousted former premier Sheikh Hasina, also said the global order was changing rapidly, with new strategic equations emerging in South Asia, the Middle East and the wider Muslim world. Given this, the country should pursue multidimensional and balanced international partnerships rather than one-sided dependence or isolation.
The government had signalled its interest even before Thursday’s parliamentary exchange. State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humaiun Kabir told on Monday (August 24, 2026) that Bangladesh had expressed interest in the pact, though no formal progress had been made and no final decision taken.
He said it would not be unusual for Bangladesh to join such a security arrangement among Islamic countries, and that the government was viewing the matter positively.
Shama Obaed Islam, another State Minister for Foreign Affairs, also said the interests of the country and its people would be given the highest priority in joining any defence agreement or alliance.
The Mecca Joint Defense Agreement was signed in the Saudi city on August 7 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, establishing a mutual-defence clause under which an attack on any one signatory would be treated as an attack on all three. Struck amid heightened regional tensions following the outbreak of the Iran war earlier this year, the pact has since drawn interest from Turkish officials keen to expand its membership beyond the founding three countries.
Published – August 28, 2026 11:01 am IST
