AUSTIN, Texas (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore has been invited to join the US-led “Board of Peace” proposed by the Trump administration to supervise the next phase of the Gaza peace plan.
“The Singapore Government has received an invitation from the US to join the Board of Peace and is currently assessing the invitation,” the Singapore Foreign Ministry told The Straits Times on Jan 20.
Invitation letters were sent by the White House over the past few days to dozens of nations to join the proposed board, which was initially meant to oversee reconstruction in Gaza but has since assumed the larger role of “resolving global conflict”.
In the invitation, a copy of which was shared on X by Argentinian President Javier Milei, President Donald Trump offers an opportunity to join a “historic and magnificent effort to solidify peace in the Middle East, and at the same time, to embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflict”.
This expanded role for the Board of Peace could well signal the US President’s ambition to rival the United Nations Security Council, which had passed a resolution to back its formation.
The board, which will be chaired by Trump, is expected to hold its first meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
The official list of members and the charter laying out the scope of the board are expected to be released in the coming days.
Trump first mentioned the board in September 2025 as part of a 20-point peace plan to end Israel’s two-year war in Gaza. After a fragile ceasefire was reached the following month, the UN Security Council Resolution gave its endorsement on Nov 17, 2025.
Singapore had not asked to be part of the board.
“We are not campaigning to be on the Board of Peace,” Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Oct 15, 2025, when asked in Parliament if Singapore would seek a seat.
“We are Singaporeans. Our approach is always to do more, say less, be quietly helpful and constructive, work from the ground up,” he said.
“So that’s why we’re not asking to sit on any boards, but we will step up our longstanding cooperation with the Palestinian Authority,” Dr Balakrishnan added.
Unofficial versions of the board’s charter, which are circulating widely across international media, make no mention of Gaza, even though the UN mandate for the board is limited to Gaza and lasts until only the end of 2027.
“The Board of Peace 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,” says the draft charter, which was attached to the invitation letters.
Beyond the standard three-year term on the board that is specified in the charter, indefinite membership is also being offered for a fee of US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) within the first year. The funds are to be ploughed into the reconstruction of Gaza.
“Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman,” the charter says.
“The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than US$1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force.”
Invitations have reportedly been extended to 60 nations, including Britain, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Among the Asian nations invited are China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia and Thailand.
Vietnam, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Morocco and Argentina have confirmed their intention to join the board, while most nations remain cautious.
Israel, which has objected to the board as a “raw deal”, has been invited but has not yet accepted the offer. France does not plan to join the board “at this stage”, while the Kremlin is “studying the details”, the countries’ officials said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “talking to allies” about it. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen plans to discuss the board with other EU leaders. Without signalling intention to join, a spokesperson said the commission wants “to contribute to a comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict”.
The board’s expanded role has stirred comment that Mr Trump may be seeking to build a US-led alternative to the UN.
Trump, a strident UN critic, announced on Jan 7 that he was pulling the US out of 31 UN agencies and bodies while describing their operations as “contrary to US national interests”. -- The Straits Times/ANN
