Saudi Arabia opposed Egypt joining the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement signed with Turkey and Pakistan last week, despite Ankara's push for Cairo to be included in the pact, three Saudi sources familiar with the discussions told Middle East Eye. One of the sources, a former senior adviser to the Saudi monarchy, said Riyadh did not want Egypt to join the agreement "at least for now". The Saudi sources, however, disputed the suggestion that Egypt itself had rejected the pact. But the Saudi sources said Turkey and Pakistan offered more to the alliance militarily than Egypt. In contrast, the sources said Egypt's military manufacturing capacity is concentrated heavily on civilian production and does not offer the same level of advanced defence technology.