Argentina's Milei says Trump has invited him to join Gaza ‘Board of Peace’

President Javier Milei announced Saturday that Argentina will join the “Board of Peace,” a transitional governance board for the reconstruction of Gaza created by US President Donald Trump.

The initiative is a bid to establish a new conflict-resolution platform, though its immediate priority of pacifying the Gaza Strip.

Posting on social media, Milei described the invitation as an “honour” and said Argentina would join as a founding member.

“Argentina will always stand with countries that confront terrorism head on, defend life and property, and promote peace and freedom,” the La Libertad Avanza leader wrote on his X account.

The White House has yet to confirm the offer.

Trump announced the formation of the "board of peace" on Thursday, a key phase two element of a US-backed plan to end the war in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, former British prime minister Tony Blair, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, and World Bank President Ajay Banga were among those named to a seven-member "founding executive board," the White House said.

The US president – who is not known for his humility – said it was the "greatest and most prestigious board ever assembled at any time, any place."

The board's creation comes shortly after the announcement of a 15-member Palestinian technocratic committee, charged with managing the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza.

Milei has been invited to form part of the general board, not the executive committee, according to reports.

‘Lasting peace’

Trump’s new body has been tasked with promoting a “lasting peace” in regions devastated by war, though its initial focus is Gaza.

On Saturday, it emerged that Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had also been invited to join Trump’s group.

Argentina’s inclusion in this select group underscores Milei’s full alignment with the United States’ security and foreign policy agenda.

The board’s first stated objective is to mediate and stabilise the situation in the Middle East after years of conflict. It will also operate as a forum for cooperation among countries that maintain a firm stance against international terrorism.

Trump’s Board of Peace is expected to use channels outside traditional multilateral bodies such as the United Nations in order to speed up peace agreements.

The move positions Argentina as the Trump administration’s main ally in the Americas, taking on what Milei described as a “global-scale responsibility” that goes beyond the regional agenda.

Since taking office, Milei has shifted Argentina’s foreign policy, setting the US and Israel as his “pillars.”

Argentina’s entry into the Board of Peace marks a break with the country’s historic policy of neutrality or multilateral mediation, signalling a shift towards an approach of “active alignment” with Western powers in the most sensitive conflicts of the 21st century.

Other members

Trump has already declared himself the chair of a "Board of Peace" and on Friday announced its first names, which included Blair as well as several senior US figures, including Kushner, Rubio and Witkoff, Trump's business partner turned globe-trotting negotiator.

The White House said the Board of Peace will take on issues such as "governance capacity-building, regional relations, reconstruction, investment attraction, large-scale funding and capital mobilisation."

Trump, a real-estate developer, has previously mused about turning devastated Gaza into a Riviera-style area of resorts, although he has backed away from calls to forcibly displace the population.

Blair is a controversial figure in the Middle East because of his role in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Trump himself said last year that he wanted to make sure Blair was an "acceptable choice to everybody."

The former British PM spent years focused on the Israeli-Palestinian issue as representative of the "Middle East Quartet" – the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia – after leaving Downing Street in 2007.

The other members of the board are Banga, billionaire US financier Marc Rowan and Robert Gabriel, a loyal Trump aide who serves on the National Security Council.

– TIMES/NA/AFP