Trump Launches Board of Peace at Davos, But India and Several Other Partners Absent

US President Donald Trump on Thursday (January 22, 2026) launched the Board of Peace for Gaza that would be the focal forum to ensure an end to hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

India was conspicuously absent at the ceremony, when Trump insisted that “everyone wants to be a part” of the body. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the global leaders invited to the Board by Trump.

How is India viewing the Trump invitation to the Board?

India is still considering the invitation from Trump to join the Board of Peace, which is being viewed as an alternative to the United Nations Security Council, even though a lot of the US allies have not joined the Board yet.

Several Indian diplomacy practitioners have warned the Indian government to carefully consider the implications of joining the Board.

China’s foreign ministry has said it would defend and protect the global institutions based on the United Nations, but confirmed it was invited to join the Board.

Russia, too, got an invitation from Trump, and so have Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, which were among the countries that have joined the Board of Peace.

What did Trump say during the Board’s launch?

Trump said 59 countries were on the board, while only 19 countries and the US were represented at the event, as part of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“You’re the most powerful people in the world,” Trump told the representatives of the nations present at the event. These nations included Azerbaijan, Paraguay, and Hungary.

The list of nations that agreed to be on the Board included Argentina, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Morocco, Mongolia, Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

France, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom would not join the board, at least for now, while Cambodia, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Paraguay, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, and Ukraine were non-committal on the invitation.

How does the Board’s success hinge on Gaza peace?

“This is not the United States, this is for the world,” Trump said. “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza,” he added, in the presence of former Palestinian Authority official Ali Shaath from Gaza.

Ali is supervising the Palestinian Committee set to administer Gaza under the US-led monitoring. It was announced that the Rafah border crossing would open at both the Gaza and the Egypt directions next week.

The Gaza peace effort from Trump had been overshadowed by his threats to seize Greenland from Denmark, citing security concerns in the Arctic region from Russia and China, though Europe wasn’t ready to buy the US argument.

Why is Trump pitching the Board as an UN alternative?

Trump has openly called for the Board of Peace to take over some of the UN’s functions, and even replace it someday in the future. But, on the sidelines of the WEF, the US President was conciliatory.

“We’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” Trump said. Yet, he targeted the UN for “not doing enough” to stop conflicts and establish peace globally.

As its first task, the Board of Peace would govern and monitor Gaza development funding, in a bid to rehabilitate the land strip after the two-plus years of war-inflicted devastation.

What does the Board set out to do under its charter?

But the board’s ‘charter’ is much broader than the role in Gaze, taking the form of “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 Board’s top brass would be “exclusively” the heads of state who fund the Board under Trump’s leadership.