- Invitation extended by US President Donald Trump in January.
- Final decision on PM’s participation to be made in coming days.
- Initiative seeks reconstruction, stability, lasting UN-backed solution in Gaza.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is expected to attend the first leaders’ meeting of the US-initiated Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ in Washington on February 19, according to sources privy to the matter.
The development follows an invitation extended by US President Donald Trump to Pakistan to join the Board of Peace on Gaza, which the Foreign Office (FO) confirmed on January 18, 2026.
Sources, however, said a final decision on PM Shehbaz’s participation in the international moot, to be chaired by the US president at the Donald J Trump Institute for Peace, would be made in the coming days.
“Pakistan will be in attendance. The invitation was sent to the prime minister, and it is expected that he will attend. Consultations are continuing and, in a few days, the government will make an announcement. It is an important event,“ The News reported, quoting diplomatic sources.
Last month, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that Pakistan would continue to engage with international efforts aimed at peace and security in Gaza.
“Pakistan will remain engaged with international efforts for peace and security in Gaza, leading to a lasting solution to the Palestine issue in accordance with United Nations resolutions,” he said.
Pakistan has reiterated at international forums its readiness to play a “constructive role” in the US peace plan for Palestine.
In December 2026, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Pakistan’s civil and military leadership was fully aligned on not sending troops to Gaza to disarm Hamas.
The planned meeting was first reported by Axios, which said the gathering would also serve as a fundraising conference for the reconstruction of Gaza.
“We can confirm the Board of Peace meeting is scheduled on February 19th,” the official said in a statement to Reuters. Further questions were referred to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The meeting would be held at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, Axios reported.
At least one world leader has confirmed his participation. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Trump’s closest allies in the European Union, said at a campaign event on Saturday in the western city of Szombathely that he would go to Washington in two weeks to attend the Board of Peace meeting.
In late January, Trump launched the board that he will chair and which he says will aim to resolve global conflicts, leading to some experts being concerned that such a board could undermine the United Nations.
Gaza ceasefire violations
Governments around the world have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation to join the initiative. While some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, many of its traditional Western allies have thus far stayed away. Permanent membership on the board costs $1 billion.
A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorised the board and countries working with it to establish an international stabilisation force in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire began in October under a Trump plan on which Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan, revealed late last year, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said it would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.
A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the planned Board of Peace meeting.
Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure and have criticised the board for not including a Palestinian.
The fragile ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly violated, with over 550 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since the truce began in October.
