FM Dar heads to Istanbul after concluding UK visit: MoFA

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar left London for Istanbul on Sunday to "undertake official engagements", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.

Dar’s visit to Turkiye comes ahead of the scheduled Regional Four Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Istanbul.

FM Dar was on a visit to the United Kingdom, where he met British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband in London for delegation-level talks. The visit assumed significance against the backdrop of Pakistan's increasingly visible diplomatic role in regional and international affairs, with Islamabad seeking to translate its recent diplomatic engagements into stronger relations with major powers.

According to a post on X by MoFA, "He concluded a successful official visit to the UK, during which he held meetings with UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Minister of State for Pakistan Stephen Doughty, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Arsenio Dominguez, and Commonwealth Secretary-General Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey."

The Foreign Office said Dar also engaged with Pakistan-origin British parliamentarians from both Houses and interacted with the Pakistani community in the UK.

Regional Four to meet later this month

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Egypt are set to hold another round of high-level consultations in Istanbul, as Islamabad steps up diplomatic coordination with key regional powers following the signing of a landmark defence agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye.

Turkish FM invited Dar to Istanbul for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The invitation was extended during a telephone conversation on August 19.

The four countries have been coordinating under the R-4 framework, which was launched earlier this year to intensify consultations on regional crises, particularly the conflict involving the United States and Iran and broader efforts to promote regional stability. The grouping has held several meetings since March, with its fourth ministerial meeting taking place in Cairo in June.

Read: Ishaq Dar to visit Istanbul for quartet talks

The latest meeting of the four foreign ministers was held in Amman on August 5 on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on Jerusalem. Dar, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Turkish FM Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed the regional situation and called for continued consultation and coordination.

The Istanbul meeting, however, assumes added significance because it will be the first major R-4 engagement since Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye signed the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement on August 7.

The agreement commits the three countries to collective defence, with an armed attack against one member to be treated as an attack against all. Pakistan and Türkiye have stressed that the pact is defensive in nature and is not directed against any particular country. The agreement also envisages deeper military coordination, joint exercises and cooperation in defence technology.

Egypt's potential participation had emerged as an important question in the run-up to the Makkah agreement. Turkish officials had indicated that Cairo could eventually join the new defence arrangement, given its military weight and strategic importance in the region. However, Egypt did not become a signatory when Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye concluded the pact in Makkah.

The upcoming four-way meeting therefore provides an opportunity to assess whether Egypt could have a role in the evolving regional security architecture without necessarily becoming a formal member of the defence pact.

For Pakistan, the Istanbul talks also come at a time when Islamabad is seeking to maintain close coordination with both Gulf Arab states and Türkiye while keeping its diplomatic channels open with other regional actors.

Officials familiar with the diplomatic process say the discussions are expected to cover the rapidly changing security situation in the Middle East, the future of the R-4 mechanism and ways of strengthening political and diplomatic coordination among the four countries.