Pakistan’s cabinet approves defence pact with Kuwait

On Wednesday, inside a cabinet room in Islamabad, Pakistan’s ministers put their approval on a defence agreement with Kuwait that had been sitting unsigned since 2023. It took only one meeting. But the timing says a lot about what’s happening around the Gulf right now.

The Federal Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, ratified the defence cooperation agreement between Pakistan and Kuwait, Pakistan’s PM Office confirmed. For readers in Kuwait, this is a quiet but notable step in a relationship between two countries that already share deep military and labour ties. It also comes while Pakistan is deep in talks with several Gulf states, something we’ve followed closely, including the recent consultations with Qatar and Pakistan over regional tensions.

What exactly did the cabinet approve?

According to the PM Office’s statement, the cabinet meeting took place in Islamabad under Sharif’s chairmanship. The main item was ratifying the defence cooperation agreement with Kuwait. This isn’t a brand-new deal. It was actually finalised more than three years ago, on 11 June 2023, with the stated goal of promoting cooperation in defence between what the PM Office called the two “brotherly countries.”

Ratification is the formal step that makes an already-signed agreement legally binding within a country’s own system. So this move doesn’t create a new relationship between Pakistan and Kuwait. It locks in one that was already agreed, years after the original signing.

The source statement doesn’t spell out exact clauses of the agreement, such as joint training, arms cooperation or intelligence sharing. That detail simply isn’t public yet, so we can’t say more than what’s confirmed.

Why is Sharif talking about oil prices?

During the same cabinet meeting, PM Sharif gave remarks that went well beyond the Kuwait agreement. He said oil prices around the world are very high right now, and pointed to unrest in the region as a major reason. He said Pakistan is continuing what he called sincere diplomatic efforts to build peace and stability, and to reduce tensions, describing this as something Pakistan has always tried to do.

This isn’t a new theme for Pakistan’s government. Islamabad has been positioning itself as a mediator of sorts across several Gulf and regional flashpoints this year, something our readers have seen play out in stories like Turkey and Pakistan sending troops to Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks, and reports of Pakistani jets reportedly joining strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

What happened on the Tehran visit?

Sharif specifically mentioned a Pakistani delegation’s visit to Tehran. The delegation included Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff. During that trip, high-level officials from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkiye held discussions together.

Sharif described the atmosphere of those talks as good. He said the discussions focused on an agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye on how to build more harmony across the region. No further specifics on this three-way agreement were given in the statement, so the exact shape of it is still unclear.

This comes against a backdrop of real tension in the wider region. Our earlier coverage has tracked incidents like the Houthi projectile that hit Najran in Saudi Arabia, and the ongoing Pakistan-Iran border dispute over blocked trucks. These are the kinds of flashpoints Sharif appears to be referring to when he talks about unrest driving up oil prices.

What this means for people in Kuwait

For Kuwait residents, both citizens and the large Pakistani community living and working here, this agreement is a sign that the two governments are formalising ties that already run deep through labour, trade and personal connections. Pakistani nationals make up a significant share of Kuwait’s expatriate workforce, and any strengthening of official government-to-government cooperation tends to be watched closely within that community.

There’s no indication in this announcement of any immediate change to visas, labour rules or day-to-day life for expats in Kuwait. This is a government-level defence agreement, not a civilian policy change.

What matters more for the average reader here is the bigger picture Sharif was painting: a region where oil prices are reacting to unrest, and where Pakistan is trying to position itself as part of the solution. Kuwait, as a Gulf oil producer, has a direct stake in how that unrest plays out. You can follow more of this wider regional story in our International news coverage.

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