Pakistan has welcomed Kuwait’s ratification of a 2023 defence cooperation agreement between the two countries, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Wednesday.

In a statement responding to media queries, FO spokesperson Dr Tahir Andrabi said the agreement marked “another important milestone in the longstanding defence partnership between the two brotherly countries, dating back to the early 1980s”.

“It also reflects the shared resolve of both sides to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation and elevate their security partnership,” Andrabi was quoted as saying.

The statement added that the pact provides a comprehensive institutional framework to broaden defence cooperation, encompassing military training, joint exercises, exchanges of expertise and “other mutually agreed areas of collaboration”.

“It will further enhance institutional linkages between the armed forces of both countries and consolidate the longstanding defence ties between Pakistan and Kuwait,” the statement read.

The FO added that Pakistan and Kuwait would continue to work closely to implement the pact in accordance with its provisions, thereby “expanding bilateral defence collaboration, strengthening their enduring defence partnership underpinned by mutual trust, shared interests, and close institutional cooperation and contributing to regional peace, security and stability”.

The statement came as Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah concluded his visit to Pakistan.

During his visit, the Kuwaiti FM held separate meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Deputy Prime Minister and FM Ishaq Dar.

In a statement on Dar’s meeting with the Al-Sabah, the FO said the deputy premier noted the defence cooperation agreement between their countries would further strengthen institutional links between both nations’ militaries.

The pact was signed on June 11, 2023 at Kuwait’s Ministry of Defence by then-ambassador Malik Muhammad Farooq on behalf of Pakistan, and Brigadier General Fawaz Khudair Muhammad Al-Harbi, the ministry’s joint planning director, from the Kuwaiti side, according to the FO.

Pakistan has been negotiating an expanded defence pact with Kuwait in exchange for energy cooperation and investment, the Reuters news agency reported earlier this month, citing five sources with knowledge of the talks.