Foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany will meet their counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt in İstanbul on Friday for talks on regional conflicts and the Russia-Ukraine war, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will host the meeting, the first to bring together the European trio, known as the E3, and the newly formed R4 group comprising Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Egypt.
The agenda includes the Palestinian issue, developments in Yemen and the Strait of Hormuz, and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, the source said.
“The seven countries will come together for the first time in the R4+E3 format, at Turkey’s initiative,” the source said, adding that they would explore “opportunities for cooperation and coordination that could be put into practice … in the coming period.”
Fidan is expected to urge the international community to increase pressure on Israel over settlement expansion and what the source described as its “encouragement of settler terrorism.”
He will also express support for Saudi Arabia’s security in the face of attacks by Yemen’s Houthis and stress the need to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
On Ukraine, Fidan is expected to reiterate Turkey’s “warnings and proposals” aimed at preventing the war from spreading to the Black Sea and ending civilian deaths.
The E3 emerged more than two decades ago to coordinate diplomacy over Iran’s nuclear program. The R4 was formed this year, bringing Egypt together with the three signatories to the Mecca Defense Agreement, a mutual defense pact concluded by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in August.
© Agence France-Presse