Major European countries, including France, Germany, and UK, absent amid sharp disagreements with Trump on key issues
Paraguay’s President Santiago Pena (L), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (5L), Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani (C-R), Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita (6R), Argentina’s President Javier Milei (5R), Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (2R), Bulgaria’s former Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov (R), Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (4R) pose with US President Donald Trump signing a founding charter at the “Board of Peace” meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. — AFP
The Trump administration’s newly formed “Board of Peace” on Wednesday announced 26 countries designated as founding members of the initiative, including Pakistan.
A week after United States President Donald Trump formally introduced the “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the body launched an official account on US social media company X.
“The Board of Peace welcomes Pakistan as a founding member of our growing international organisation,” said a welcome post on X.
The list of founding members includes Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cambodia, El Salvador, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, spanning the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Caucasus.
Read: Why Pakistan joined Trump’s Board of Peace
Notably absent from the list are major European countries such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, amid sharp disagreements with Trump on issues including Greenland and tariff policies, which have strained relations between Washington and several European capitals.
Ukraine questioned how it could participate alongside Russia and Belarus. Belarus accepted the invitation to join, while Russia was not included in the board, despite President Vladimir Putin saying Moscow was ready to allocate $1 billion from Russian assets frozen by the previous US administration to the body’s budget.
Trump rescinded Canada’s invitation, citing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum, in which he warned against economic coercion by major powers.
Trump announced the establishment of the “Board of Peace” on January 15 as part of his broader plan for Gaza, under which the ceasefire agreement was reached. The board was authorised by the UN Security Council Resolution 2803 in November 2025.
Read More: What is Pakistan getting into with Trump’s Gaza ‘Board of Peace’?
The board was originally conceived to oversee the ceasefire and reconstruction of Gaza, but its charter expands its mandate to peace-building in all areas affected by or at risk of conflict.
Further details on the board’s mandate, leadership structure, and timeline for implementation have yet to be formally announced.
