U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday (January 22, 2026) inaugurated his Board of Peace to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefirre in Israel’s war with Hamas, insisting that “everyone wants to be apart” of the body that could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.
India was among the countries not present at the ceremony. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among numerous global leaders invited by Mr. Trump to join the board.
India is yet to take a call on it, people familiar with the matter said when asked about the invite. Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, were among the countries that have accepted Mr. Trump’s invitation.
While Mr. Trump said 59 countries have signed onto the board, representatives of only 19 countries and the U.S. were present at the event as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“You’re the most powerful people in the world.” Mr. Trump told the group, ranging from Azerbaijan to Paraguay to Hungary.
“This is not the United States, this is for the world,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”
The event also saw Ali Shaath, former Palestinian Authority official from Gaza who is overseeing the Palestinian committee set to govern the territory under U.S. supervision, announcing that the Rafah border crossing, between Gaza and Egypt, will open in both directions next week.
The U.S. President’s attempt to create momentum for a project to map out a future of the war-torn Gaza Strip has been overshadowed this week, first by his threats to seize Greenland, then by a dramatic retreat from that push.
The countries that have accepted Trump’s invitation to join the board are Argentina, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Mongolia, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
France, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom are among those which will not join the board, at least for now.
The countries which have been invited but remained non-committal are: Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Paraguay, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and Ukraine.
Mr. Trump has spoken about the board replacing some UN functions and perhaps even making that entire body obsolete one day.
Trump Board of Peace: List of members invited and countries that rejected the proposal
But he was more conciliatory in his remarks on the sidelines of the forum in the Swiss alps. “We’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” Mr. Trump said, even as he denigrated the UN for doing what he said wasn’t enough to calm some conflicts around the globe.
Originally, the new body was to be tasked to oversee governance and coordinate funding for Gaza’s redevelopment as the strip was devastated during the two years of Israeli military offensive.
However, the “charter” of the board says it is “an international organisation that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict”. It says durable peace requires pragmatic judgment, common sense solutions, and the courage to depart from approaches and institutions that have too often failed.
The top level of the board will consist “exclusively” of heads of state under Mr. Trump’s leadership.
With inputs from PTI, AP
Published – January 22, 2026 10:16 pm IST
