Dhaka
\nBangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman told parliament on Thursday that the country would consider \u201cpositively\u201d if founding members of the Makkah pact invite South Asian nations to join it.
\n\u201cJoining the pact or not has not come yet, as it is subjected to the intention of the parties involved in the pact. If they invite Bangladesh to join, then we will definitely consider it positively,\u201d the foreign minister said.
\nHe assured parliament that Bangladesh would assess the potential benefits before making any decision to join.
\nCalling the pact a self-defence mechanism for the Muslim world, Rahman said, \u201cMore importantly, we have to keep in mind it is the world Muslim community\u2019s self-defence mechanism. And this is our family\u2019s, Muslim family\u2019s internal matter. So, there is nothing for others to be concerned about.\u201d
\nSeparately, opposition leader and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman said that joining the Makkah pact was Bangladesh\u2019s \u201cown decision\u201d.
\n\u201cIf Bangladesh takes a decision in the interests and needs of the country and nation, no one else needs to suffer (worry about),\u201d he said in a statement on Facebook.
\nT\u00fcrkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the joint defence agreement at a trilateral summit in Makkah on August 7, pledging to strengthen collective security, deepen defence cooperation and promote peace and stability in the region and beyond.
\nThe agreement was signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during the summit at Al-Safa Palace.
\nOn August 25, Bangladesh\u2019s newly appointed state minister for foreign affairs expressed interest in joining the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement.
\n\u201cWe have expressed our interest in the Makkah Defence pact \u2026 Bangladesh is now a country of recognition. The partners in West Asia (Middle East), the partners in the Muslim world around the globe are now inviting the leadership of Bangladesh, especially the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, to be with them in many places,\u201d said Humayun Kobir.
\n\u201cIf there is one (agreement) in West Asia, if there is a security agreement between Islamic countries, then it is not unusual to go there. Let\u2019s see. The matter is being viewed positively,\u201d said Kabir, who earlier served as an advisor to Rahman.
\nHumayun\u2019s comments come three days after he had initially signalled Bangladesh\u2019s willingness to join the pact on Saturday, as Dhaka seeks to expand its strategic partnerships while keeping national interests at the centre of its foreign policy, it emerged on Saturday, according to state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
\n\u201cBangladesh maintains a positive approach towards the possibility of joining an economic or defence framework involving Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and T\u00fcrkiye, taking into account its own interests and the changing dynamics of the global economy and trade,\u201d Kobir said.
\nHe added that Bangladesh was pursuing a balanced foreign policy under its \u201cBangladesh First\u201d approach in the international arena, with national interests at its core.
\n\u201cBangladesh is strengthening its working bilateral relationship with Pakistan as part of normal diplomatic engagement, with a focus on trade and bilateral people-to-people connectivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dhaka Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman told parliament on Thursday that the country would consider \u201cpositively\u201d if founding members of the Makkah pact invite South Asian nations to join it. \u201cJoining the pact or not has not come yet, as it is subjected to the intention of the parties involved in the pact. If they …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102247,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102236\/revisions\/102247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}