Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir is arriving in Islamabad today (Sunday) to hold talks with Pakistani civil and military leadership on the newly-formed 34-state Islamic military alliance against terrorism. Sources said that Jubeir, in his first visit to the country, would meet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif. He would also hold bilateral talks with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.
According to a Foreign Office media invite, the visiting Saudi Foreign Minister will hold a joint press stake-out after their talks on Sunday. No further detail of the visit was officially available. The sources, however, stated that the Saudi-led military coalition will be the key agenda item besides discussions on bilateral relations, regional and international issues of mutual interest.
On December 14, 2015, the kingdom announced a 34-nation "Islamic military coalition" to fight terrorism and Pakistan, one of the members, had welcomed the move. Islamabad, however, sought further details to decide the extent of its participation in different activities of the alliance. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs told media persons on December 23, 2015, that the coalition was not compulsory in nature but voluntary, adding it was not binding on a member state to be part of any activity but every country has to decide according to its priorities.
"We have already stated that we support the coalition...there would be consultations bilaterally and collectively, which would be followed by the decision regarding the level of participation by any country," he said, adding Pakistan's decision would be based on our policy and priorities.
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