Government considers invitation to Board of Peace meeting

Cyprus’ invitation to the upcoming meeting of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, set to take place in Washington on February 19, is currently being evaluated, government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said on Monday.

Speaking on CyBC radio, Letymbiotis said the government generally favoured Trump’s “peace plan for Gaza”, provided it remained within the framework of international law and United Nations resolutions.

Citing government sources, local media on Monday morning reported that a decision was expected by Wednesday.

Invitations to the meeting were sent to several European leaders, including Cyprus and Greece over the weekend in addition to Bulgaria, Germany, France, Hungary and Spain.

Athens has also said it was assessing the invitation. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the first EU leader to officially confirm his participation in the meeting.

“President Donald Trump has taken action, shaking the branches and opening a new path. Hungary will be there, engaged and focused on results,” he wrote on X.

International media reported that other invited countries included the United Kingdom, Turkey, Armenia and Belarus, as well as several Middle Eastern countries such as Saudia Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar.

The invitation to the meeting comes three weeks after Christodoulides was invited to join Trump’s Board of Peace in mid-January, with the US proposing that Cyprus take part as one of its 25 founding states.

Shortly afterwards, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos announced that the government was awaiting the European Union’s position on the matter before committing to a definitive decision.

Kombos said that the Republic’s stance had been communicated to the US, emphasising that the government had approached the matter in a “very careful and balanced manner.”

“In what has to do with broader participation in the Board of Peace, to which its charter attributes a broader function, these are issues which are approached within the framework of and taking into account the role of the Republic of Cyprus as the holder of the Council of the EU’s rotating presidency,” he said.

Trump’s Board of Peace was signed into existence during a ceremony at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort Davos on January 22.