Britain has announced that it will not participate in Thursday’s signing ceremony for United States President Donald Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” in Davos.
The decision was confirmed by the UK Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, who spoke from the Swiss resort town where the ceremony is scheduled to take place.
Trump is expected to preside over the event, marking the formal signing of the founding charter of the conflict-resolution body, which reportedly requires a $1 billion fee for permanent membership.
“There’s a huge amount of work to do, we won’t be one of the signatories today,” Cooper said during an interview with BBC television.
She explained that Britain’s reservations are linked to the legal implications of the proposed treaty and concerns surrounding the reported inclusion of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country continues to wage war in Ukraine following its 2022 invasion.
“Because this is about a legal treaty that raises much broader issues, and we do also have concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine,” she added.
Invitations had earlier been extended to several world leaders to join the still loosely defined initiative.
While the board was initially conceived as a mechanism to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, its charter does not restrict its scope to the territory and appears to position the group as a potential alternative to the United Nations — a development that has drawn criticism from some US allies, including France.
Trump said on Wednesday that Putin had agreed to participate in the initiative, although the Kremlin has maintained that it is still reviewing the invitation.
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