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• PM Shehbaz inks board charter alongside Trump, 18 other world leaders at Davos ceremony
• After musing about ‘replacing UN’, US president says board will work in conjunction with world body
• Britain, France and China do not join; no official word from Russia despite Trump claim that Putin is onboard
• Kushner unveils plans for glitzy ‘New Gaza’ resort of skyscrapers by the sea
DAVOS: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday joined other world leaders in signing the charter of the ‘Board of Peace’ — led by US President Donald Trump — despite widespread scepticism over the plan that seemingly aims to rewrite world order.
On Thursday, a group of leaders and senior officials from 19 countries — including Pakistan — gathered on stage alongside Trump at a signing ceremony in Switzerland to put their names to the founding charter of the body.
Held on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting, the ceremony saw Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signing the document on behalf of Pakistan, along with other world leaders and officials from Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Mongolia, Morocco, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan.
The US president declared, “Everybody in this room is a star […] There’s a reason that you’re here. When you use that inspired genius for peace, the opposite of peace has no chance.”
“Every one of them are friends of mine. I like every single one of them,” Trump said about the signatories.
“Just about every country wants to be a part of it. We sent out the letters a couple of days ago and countries that are here just happened to be in Davos,” he said.
Replacing UN?
“Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we’ll do it in conjunction with the United Nations,” Trump said, adding that the UN had great potential that had not been fully utilised.
These comments followed earlier assertions by the US president that his proposed board may “replace the UN”.
The board’s creation was endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution as part of Trump’s Gaza peace plan, and UN spokesperson Rolando Gomez said on Thursday that UN engagement with the board would only be in that context.
After Trump’s address, the heads of various countries took turns to sign the board’s charter.
Apart from the US, no other permanent member of the UNSC — the five nations with the most say over international law and diplomacy since the end of World War II — has so far committed to join.
France has declined to join, saying that its charter does not correspond with a UN resolution to resolve the war in Gaza, and some of the charter’s elements were contrary to the UN charter.
Britain also said on Thursday it was not joining at present, as Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper pointed out that, “There’s a huge amount of work to do”.
China has not yet said whether it will do so. While the US president said Russian President Vladimir Putin had also agreed to join, the Kremlin said he was still studying the invitation.
However, the Board of Peace’s potential membership has been controversial, with Trump inviting Israel’s PM too. Although Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will join the board, he was not at the ceremony.
‘New Gaza’ plans
US officials also presented their vision for a “New Gaza” that would turn the shattered Palestinian territory into a glitzy resort of skyscrapers by the sea, saying the transformation could emerge in three years.
A large part of the ceremony was devoted to talking about its plans for the devastated enclave. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — a former property developer like the president — showed slides of what he billed as a “master plan” for Gaza’s reconstruction. The presentation included maps of new settlements in the Gaza Strip and artist renderings of gleaming seafront hotels and apartments.
With a slide showing dozens of shiny terraced apartments overlooking a tree-lined promenade, he promised a Mediterranean utopia rising from the Gaza landscape.
“It could be a hope. It could be a destination,” Kushner said.
Earlier in the conflict, Trump had floated his vision of turning Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East”, sparking outrage around the world.
Kushner said the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal would address funding for reconstruction as well as disarmament by Hamas. “If Hamas doesn’t demilitarise, that would be what holds this plan back,” Kushner said.
“The next 100 days, we’re going to continue to just be heads down and focused on making sure this is implemented. We continue to be focused on humanitarian aid and humanitarian shelter.”
Focus right now on Gaza
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff also spoke on the occasion.
In his speech, Rubio highlighted that Trump was “willing to talk to or engage with anyone in the interest of peace”.
Marco Rubio stressed: “Now we have this Board of Peace … [its] possibilities are endless. Obviously, with a focus first and foremost on making sure this peace deal in Gaza becomes enduring.
“I know this president has it as his highest priority and will give everything that he has to make sure that this is successful.”
The US secretary of state asserted: “This is not just a Board of Peace but a board of action, just like President Trump is a president of action.”
The secretary of state emphasised that the “focus is right now on Gaza and making sure that the […] vision for the future of Gaza […] of the region, is not just possible and promising, but it is our destiny”.
He further said it would serve as an example of “what’s possible for other places and other conflicts that seem impossible to solve right now”.
“Many others who are going to join … are not in town today or they have to go through some procedure internally in their own country because of constitutional limitations, but others will join,” Marco Rubio added.
Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2026
