Makkah Agreement: There’s opportunity to build stronger economic partnership: PBF
KARACHI: Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) has welcomed the signing of the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, saying the new strategic understanding should also be used as an opportunity to build a stronger trilateral economic partnership focused on trade, investment, industrial cooperation, technology transfer and employment.
PBF Chief Organiser Ahmad Jawad said the agreement, signed in Makkah on August 7, had created a new level of strategic confidence among the three countries.
He said the next step should be to translate this strategic confidence into greater commercial confidence by facilitating investment, joint ventures, supply-chain integration and industrial cooperation.
“The Makkah agreement should not be seen only as a defence arrangement. It can become the beginning of a much larger economic story in which security creates confidence, confidence encourages investment, and investment produces jobs, exports and industrial growth,” he said.
Jawad said that the agreement itself would not automatically increase trade, but could provide a stronger strategic framework within which the private sectors of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye pursue ambitious commercial partnerships.
The three countries already had a substantial economic base on which to build.
Türkiye and Saudi Arabia had significant bilateral trade while Pakistan–Türkiye trade reached approximately US$1.24 billion in 2025 while Pakistan–Saudi Arabia bilateral trade is currently around US$5–5.5 billion annually, with significant scope for expansion.
“Rather than looking only at bilateral trade figures, we should ask what products the three countries can manufacture, finance, transport and sell together in regional and international markets,” Jawad said.
He proposed the development of a structured Pakistan–Saudi Arabia–Türkiye Economic Roadmap with sector-wise targets for trade, investment and joint production, supported by regular engagement between governments, chambers of commerce, business forums, sovereign investment entities and leading private-sector companies.
“The opportunity is to connect Saudi capital, Turkish technology and industrial expertise with Pakistan’s manufacturing base, agriculture, minerals, human resources and geographic position,” he said.
According to Jawad, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 programme was creating major opportunities in infrastructure, energy, tourism, logistics, technology and industrial diversification.
Türkiye had developed strong capabilities in engineering, construction, manufacturing, machinery and defence-related industries while Pakistan offered a large consumer market, manufacturing capacity, agriculture and food production, mineral resources, information technology, skilled and semi-skilled human resources and access to South and Central Asian markets.
“This combination creates an opportunity to move beyond conventional bilateral trade towards integrated trilateral supply chains and joint ventures,” he said.
The forum identified defence production as one potential area for future cooperation, including joint ventures, research partnerships, maintenance facilities, training and manufacturing arrangements.
The minerals and mining as another major opportunity, with Saudi investment and Turkish engineering and processing expertise potentially helping Pakistan develop value-added mineral industries rather than exporting raw materials.
Similarly, Pakistan’s agriculture and food-production capacity could be linked with Saudi Arabia’s food-security requirements and Türkiye’s expertise in agricultural machinery, irrigation, food processing and cold-chain logistics.
Energy could also become a major area of cooperation through investment and partnerships in renewable energy, power transmission, storage and industrial energy projects.
Jawad also highlighted information technology, artificial intelligence, fintech, cybersecurity, digital services and e-commerce as areas where the three countries could develop new-generation partnerships.
He said Pakistan’s young technology workforce, Türkiye’s technology and engineering ecosystem and Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding digital economy could jointly support companies capable of competing in third markets.
The PBF official further called for logistics and connectivity to become a central part of the trilateral economic agenda by linking Pakistan’s ports and manufacturing centres with Saudi markets and onward trade routes towards Türkiye and Europe.
PBF proposed the creation of a Pakistan–Saudi Arabia–Türkiye Economic Council, comprising relevant government institutions, chambers of commerce, business forums, sovereign investment entities and leading private-sector representatives.
The council could hold an annual business summit and establish sector-specific working groups covering minerals, energy, agriculture, technology, logistics, tourism, manufacturing and defence production.
Such a mechanism, the PBF said could help identify bankable projects, facilitate business-to-business engagement, improve customs and standards cooperation, promote joint ventures and connect Saudi investment capital with Pakistani and Turkish industrial capabilities.
The Makkah agreement has the potential to demonstrate that strategic cooperation could produce dividends far beyond security.
If the three countries could combine Saudi Arabia’s capital, Türkiye’s industrial and technological strength and Pakistan’s human resources, manufacturing, agriculture and geographic connectivity, the result could be a new economic triangle with benefits measured not only in billions of dollars of trade but also in factories, technology transfer, exports and employment, he said.
“The strategic understanding has been strengthened. Now the business community must build the economic bridge.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026