Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accepted US President Donald Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace and is set to become one of the board’s founding members, the Prime Minister's office announced on Wednesday morning.
The Board of Peace initiative was originally propelled with the aim of ending the war in Gaza, but Trump later said that it would resolve conflicts globally.
Later in the early afternoon, Egypt followed suit, with its foreign ministry publishing a statement announcing that it had also accepted its offered spot on the board. Hours later, a Turkish source told Reuters that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would represent President Erdogan on the board.
Fidan had previously told state media on Tuesday that the country would soon decide whether it would join the body after receiving an invitation.
Azerbaijan accepts Trump invitation to join Board of Peace
The first country to announce on Wednesday that it would join the Board of Peace was Azerbaijan, with the country’s foreign ministry stating that an official letter confirming its membership would be sent to the US, and that “appropriate measures will be taken within the framework of the required procedures.”
Following the announcements, Israel, Egypt, and Azerbaijan join Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Belarus, Morocco, and Hungary in accepting the US's invitation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, and Tony Blair will also be among the board's founding members.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada agreed to "in principle" but that details were still being worked out. Additionally, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday said that Italy had been invited and that the country was “ready to do our part.”
On Wednesday, however, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that Italy would not take part in the board.
Kosovo accepts invitation to join the board
Later on Wednesday morning, Kosovo's President Vjosa Osmani announced that she, too, had accepted Trump's invitation to the Board of Peace.
"I am deeply honored by President [Trump's] personal invitation to represent the Republic of Kosovo as a founding member of the Board of Peace, standing shoulder to shoulder with the United States in the pursuit of a safer world," Osmani wrote on X/Twitter. "True leadership doesn’t just talk about peace, it delivers it. That is exactly what [President] Trump is doing through this historic initiative."
Osmani added that the US "helped bring peace to Kosovo. Today, Kosovo stands firmly as America’s ally."
Kosovo, a Balkan country of 1.6 million people, has been a close ally with the United States, which supported its independence from Serbia in 2008.
Reuters, Tobias Holcman, and James Genn contributed to this report.