Makkah Agreement: ‘Pakistan’s strategic relevance should be used to secure economic dividend’

Mian Zahid Hussain, president of the Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and the All Karachi Industrial Alliance, told Business Recorder that the Makkah Pact should be judged by the investment, exports, industry, technology and jobs it creates, not just its security role. In his view, Pakistan ought to convert its rising strategic importance into durable economic gains for companies and citizens. The FPCCI said it was ready to help strengthen economic ties among the three countries.

Hussain said the three countries together have an economy of about $3.33 trillion, with Türkiye near $1.6 trillion, Saudi Arabia $1.3 trillion and Pakistan $452 billion in FY2025-26. Their combined population is more than 370 million, and their annual defence budgets total nearly $125 billion. He described the pact as defensive in nature and noted that recent Turkish statements suggest other regional countries seeking peace and stability could eventually join.

He said Pakistani firms could form joint ventures and grow exports in sectors ranging from defence engineering to pharmaceuticals and textiles. He also argued that Saudi capital and Turkish know-how should flow into export industries, and that local companies should be linked into new defence supply chains. He welcomed the pact's move toward institutions, with a ministerial mechanism and a permanent secretariat planned in Saudi Arabia. Such arrangements, he added, should eventually be matched by strong private-sector institutions.