Christodoulides ‘invited’ to join Gaza Board of Peace

President Nikos Christodoulides has been invited to join the Gaza Board of Peace, according to reports on Saturday.

The Cyprus News Agency reported that Christodoulides has taken receipt of a letter from United States President Donald Trump, and that Cyprus will be one of the board’s “25 founding states”.

The reports come after the White House had earlier in the day announced the creation of the Board of Peace, and named US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son in law Jared Kushner, former British Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair, and World Bank president Ajay Banga among the seven members of its founding executive board.

It added that each executive board member will “oversee a defined portfolio critical to Gaza’s stabilisation and long-term success, including, but not limited to, governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding, and capital mobilisation”.

Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, who once served as the UN’s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, was named as the board’s “high representative for Gaza”.

The White House said that he will “act as the on-the-ground link” between the Board of Peace and a new national committee for the administration of Gaza, the Palestinian-run arm of the new system of governance in Gaza, led by civil engineer Ali Shaath.

In addition, the White House said it had also created a “Gaza executive board”, which will act separately from the founding executive board, which will be charged with “supporting effective governance and the delivery of best-in-class services that advance peace, stability, and prosperity for the people of Gaza”.

Witkoff, Kushner, Blair, and Mladenov are all also members of this board, with notable other members including incumbent UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Sigrid Kaag and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

Earlier in the day, Turkey’s presidential communications director Burhanettin Duran had said that his country’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had also been invited to be a “founding member” of the Board of Peace, while Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Argentine President Javier Milei also said they had been invited.

The reported invitation of Christodoulides comes after Cyprus’ foreign ministry had earlier in the day said that the government will “continue actively complementing efforts, in cooperation with international and regional partners, toward sustainable peace and security” following the initial announcement of the Board of Peace’s creation.

It described the creation of the board as “a vital step in enabling the transition” of power in Gaza.

Christodoulides had attended the summit on the future of Gaza in the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh in October last year, and said before travelling to it that he wanted “Cypriot companies to have a role in the reconstruction” of the strip.

He returned from that summit speaking of “six initiatives the Republic of Cyprus can undertake” based on Trump’s 20-point plan for Gaza’s future.

Meanwhile, government sources told the Cyprus Mail that those initiatives were based on three subjects: security, humanitarian aid and reconstruction.

They said the six initiatives had been submitted in the form of a letter to the European Union and the United Nations in Sharm El-Sheikh, while copies had also been distributed to the summit’s other attendees.

The letter, they said, spoke of how Cyprus can “utilise our geographical position” to contribute to the future of Gaza, “just as we did for the Amalthea initiative”.

“We are basically saying, ‘whatever help you may need, we are here to utilise our geographical position and the fact that we are accepted by both Israel and Palestine, and by the Arab states, to offer what we can to help’,” the sources said.

Later that month, presidential press office director Victor Papadopoulos said that Christodoulides had informed El-Sisi and heads of government of other EU member states that Cypriot government seeks to offer “operational support” for the plan and does not seek to become a political mediator