Mecca: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Friday signed a joint defence agreement bringing together Sunni Muslim-majority nations which are American amid the conflict in Middle East triggered by the war between US-Israel and Iran. Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir arrived in Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit accompanied by a high-level delegation. Islamabad has fostered close ties with Saudi Arabia for decades, with over 2.5 million of its nationals estimated to be living and working in the kingdom. Last September, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed a strategic defence pact, with the two sides saying that an attack on one country would be considered “an aggression against both”. Pakistan is a nuclear-powered nation, Saudi Arabia is oil-rich, and Turkey has NATO’s second-largest army and a rapidly growing defence industry.