Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman said Bangladesh would positively consider joining the Mecca Pact if the countries already party to it express an intention to include Bangladesh. He made the remarks on Thursday during the parliamentary question-and-answer session, chaired by Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, in response to independent lawmaker Rumin Farhana.

Farhana said Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the Mecca Pact on August 7 and asked what benefits Bangladesh would gain by joining it. Rahman said the pact currently exists among those three countries and that Bangladesh views it positively. He said the question of Bangladesh joining has not yet arisen because it depends on the wishes of the signatory members.

The minister said it was probably not yet time to discuss the pact’s advantages and disadvantages, though Bangladesh would consider all such matters. If the pact expands, he said, it would serve as a self-defence arrangement for the global Muslim community. He described it as an internal matter of the Muslim family and said there was no scope for concern from others.