He made the remarks in a post published on his verified Facebook page at around 11:45am on Thursday (August 27).

Dr Shafiqur Rahman said that if Bangladesh makes a decision based on the country’s needs and national interests, there should be no reason for anyone else to object to it.

Recently, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed a defence agreement aimed at strengthening security cooperation among the three countries. Under the agreement, an attack on any one of the three countries would be considered an attack on all three.

The agreement was signed in Makkah on August 7. Since then, discussions have emerged over the possibility of Bangladesh joining the agreement, with opinions both in favour of and against the proposal already being expressed in various quarters.