Why did Egypt decline the Mecca defense agreement ?

[maged mahmoud]

According to a Pakistani source, Egypt received an invitation to participate in the coalition but ultimately declined.

Why did Egypt decline the Mecca defense agreement?

1-The Military Commitment
Egypt’s participation implies that Cairo could become politically and militarily bound to engage in any war entered, especially by Saudi Arabia.
This is a highly sensitive issue for Egypt, as it does not wish to be automatically drawn into conflicts involving the Gulf, Iran, or Yemen.

2-Greece and Greek Cyprus
Egypt would like to preserve its strategic ties with Greece and Greek Cyprus rather than signing a military agreement with their rival Turkey.
Recently Egypt's EGAS and Cyprus finalized a landmark preliminary agreement for Egypt to buy the entire 15-year natural gas output of Cyprus's offshore Aphrodite field so Egypt will not sabotage such deal for a useless agreement .

3-India
India is currently Egypt's 6th-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $6.5 billion in FY2025–26. More than 700 Indian companies are registered in Egypt, with Indian investment exceeding $5.5 billion and around 40,000 direct/indirect jobs attributed to these companies.

The relationship is also highly diversified: Indian companies operate in chemicals, energy, textiles, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, agriculture, retail and other industries.

By comparison, Egypt–Pakistan economic relations are much smaller

A defense agreement with Pakistan could be misinterpreted.

4-United Arab Emirates
The rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is a major geopolitical shift in the Gulf. Once close allies, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are now engaged in open economic and strategic competition for regional dominance .
Therefore, Egypt wishes to maintain an equidistant stance between the two parties.

5-Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Bin Salman aspires to be the leader of the region, as well as the Arab and Islamic worlds, yet he fails to realize that the era of such leadership ended back in the 1960s. Furthermore, his decisions are impulsive.His airstrike on Sanaa Airport, caused the Houthis to launch missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia, including attacks targeting Abha International Airport and other Saudi military/strategic targets and a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea .
Egypt prefers to maintain interests in the red sea rather than initiating a conflict with the Houthis.

The egyptian decision concerning the mecca agreement Is compatible with
the best egyptian interest, hopefully it won t change in the future.

 

[Anatolia]

And yet so many on this forum want Egypt.

 

[Desert]

That's probably the best explanation I've seen so far.

 

[Yasser76]

From what I read the Saudis blocked Egypt joining, anyway, good for all parties Egypt does not join

 

[Watandar]

Egypt also has it's hands full with an unstable and fractured Libya to its west, a hot civil war in Sudan in the South as well as civil war and tensions with Ethiopia, and finally Gaza situation and Israel in the north.

 

[PakAl]

That's probably the best explanation I've seen so far.

Definitely but some people say Saudia declined Egypt, if that was so then why Egypt was initially part of the talks. You see for Egypt to join they need to have similar policy as the Saudis in the middleeast east, ie support Yemen war, Syria, Libya etc, and support Saudia pack against UAE and Iran. Egypt for the moment said no. I dont think its because of India, Saudia has 40b trade with india, millions of workers in GCC so they are more closer to India than Egypt.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@FarhanSiddiqui

Farhan bhai,

I beg to differ. Pakistan has made a wise decision. The chances of either KSA or TUR getting into a conventional war is next to zero- so there is little military liability to PAK. OTOH, Pak gets access to Saudi money and Turkish tech/manufacturing process. That is why Indians are running scared.

Regards

 

[Corax]

@FarhanSiddiqui

Farhan bhai,

I beg to differ. Pakistan has made a wise decision. The chances of either KSA or TUR getting into a conventional war is next to zero- so there is little military liability to PAK. OTOH, Pak gets access to Saudi money and Turkish tech/manufacturing process. That is why Indians are running scared.

Regards

True, Turkey is part of NATO, why would they need any other alliance? Saudi failed miserably when it unilaterally became involved in Yemen, and Pakistan refused to get involved despite immense pressure. Despite the appalling mess of Trump vis a vis Iran, Saudi still relies on its alliance with the US for its security, and Trump won't be there forever. The main beneficiary will be Pakistan.

 

[arshu]

@FarhanSiddiqui

Farhan bhai,

I beg to differ. Pakistan has made a wise decision. The chances of either KSA or TUR getting into a conventional war is next to zero- so there is little military liability to PAK. OTOH, Pak gets access to Saudi money and Turkish tech/manufacturing process. That is why Indians are running scared.

Regards

Same they always thought for cpec , did it save pak economically?
Real wise decision would be focus on home first, not to entangle in world affairs as of now , nukes are never going to be use ,nuke are just for deterrent.
Turkish are not fools why would they share their hard
Learnt tech with pak without any benifit , if Pakistan cant even buy thier defense product because of economic situation.
India gets tech because of money .
Pakistan will also get tech if it has money .

 

[SaadH]

True, Turkey is part of NATO, why would they need any other alliance? Saudi failed miserably when it unilaterally became involved in Yemen, and Pakistan refused to get involved despite immense pressure. Despite the appalling mess of Trump vis a vis Iran, Saudi still relies on its alliance with the US for its security, and Trump won't be there forever. The main beneficiary will be Pakistan.

Whatever help Saudi or Turkey would have provided Pakistan as it is without this agreement would be the same help Saudi and/or Turkey will provide after this agreement, nothing changes or benefits Pakistan more or less than whatever status quo is in place. This agreement only stokes the ego and somewhat legitimatizes the rule of Pakistani failed mouse and the military/criminal mafia that he controls, ruining the country currently.

 

[SoulSpokesman]

@arshu

Same they always thought for cpec , did it save pak economically?

This deal is meant to save Pak Fauj economically by giving it the dollars it needs without straining the general govt budget. It may or may not save Pak awaam economically. But I suspect some amount of cash support (in the form of oil credit) and higher visa issuances to Pak workers will happen, either formally or informally.

Pakistan will also get tech if it has money .

That's the whole point. Saudi money will enable Pak to buy military tech.

Regards

 

[hussain0216]

From what I read the Saudis blocked Egypt joining, anyway, good for all parties Egypt does not join

Let's all be honest Egypt is controlled by a Zionists linked dictator in sisi

I'm not sure Egypt can be trusted and steps need to be taken to make this work

 

[Ali_Baba]

Whatever help Saudi or Turkey would have provided Pakistan as it is without this agreement would be the same help Saudi and/or Turkey will provide after this agreement, nothing changes or benefits Pakistan more or less than whatever status quo is in place. This agreement only stokes the ego and somewhat legitimatizes the rule of Pakistani failed mouse and the military/criminal mafia that he controls, ruining the country currently.

I think that the help that Saudi will provide, will be more than words and more than what they have done historically. We have seen many large scale exercises of the Saudi airforce in Pakistan to test interoperability of the two air arms, that if required Saudi will send her airforce on request from Pakistan.

Sindoor was far too short lived to be a demonstration of the alliance.

 

[Blain2]

The most important point missed in the OP is that Egypt does not want to change its arrangement with Israel on account of what got settled at Camp David. That allows a constant gravy train of economic support and military aid to Egypt from Israel's benefactor, the US. So getting into a pact that could potentially put it in an adversarial camp against Israel may be counterproductive from their perspective.

This pact is essentially something that is being readied with Israel's expansionist policies in mind. Today, on its own, this 3 nation pact delivers nothing tangible. But it will grow to be a capability to deter Israeli expansionism eventually.

Saudis are realizing that they can mend fences with Iran and specially given the lack of US cover for KSA in the face of Iranian/allied attacks, they feel they need to come to a long term agreement with Iran to stabilize their bi-lateral relations.

 

[Ali_Baba]

Let's all be honest Egypt is controlled by a Zionists linked dictator in sisi

I'm not sure Egypt can be trusted and steps need to be taken to make this work

At multiple levels, of ego, economics, military capability, Egypt is not a good fit for the alliance.

The post above by maged mahmoud just shows how detached and deluded Egyptians are both of what a defensive pact it, and what level of commitments are required for a defensive pact.