TIRANA, Albania: Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama will travel to Washington next week to join the first meeting of US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” he told a podcast on Sunday.
“I will be in Washington for the official creation of the peace council and the launch of the activities of this council,” Rama said in an interview with Albanian podcast Flasim.
The board, of which Trump is the chairman, was originally intended to oversee the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip after two years of the Israel-Hamas war, but its charter appears to extend beyond the Palestinian territory.
The first meeting is scheduled to take place on February 19 in Washington.
Permanent members of the “Board of Peace” must pay $1 billion to join, leading to criticisms that the board could become a “pay-to-play” version of the UN Security Council.
Trump launched his “Board of Peace” at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and at least 19 countries have signed its founding charter.
Some countries — including Croatia, France, Italy, New Zealand and Norway — have already declined to join it, and others have said they could only consider doing so if its charter were changed.
Rama has previously said his country would not pay to be permanent members of the initiative.
“Albania has the privilege of being a founding state, and it will not contribute financially to join or remain as a permanent member,” Rama said on Sunday.
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Albanian PM says he will attend US ‘Board of Peace’ meeting
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Albanian PM says he will attend US ‘Board of Peace’ meeting
Ukraine sanctions Belarus leader for supporting Russian invasion
- Ukraine on Wednesday sanctioned Belarus’s long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko for providing material assistance to Russia in its invasion and enabling the “killing of Ukrainians.”
KYIV: Ukraine on Wednesday sanctioned Belarus’s long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko for providing material assistance to Russia in its invasion and enabling the “killing of Ukrainians.”
Lukashenko is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and allowed his country to be used as a springboard for Moscow’s February 2022 attack.
Russia has also deployed various military equipment to the country, Ukraine alleges, including relay stations that connect to Russian attack drones, fired in their hundreds every night at Ukrainian cities.
“Today Ukraine applied a package of sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko, and we will significantly intensify countermeasures against all forms of his assistance in the killing of Ukrainians,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.
Russia has also said it is stationing Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, a feared hypersonic ballistic weapon that Putin has claimed is impervious to air defenses. It has twice been fired on Ukraine during the war — launched from bases in Russia — though caused minimal damage as experts said it was likely fitted with dummy warheads both times.
Zelensky also accused Lukashenko of helping Moscow avoid Western sanctions.
The measures are likely to have little practical effect, but sanctioning a head of state is a highly symbolic move.
Ukraine and several Western states sanctioned Putin at the very start of the war.
Lukashenko has at times tried to present himself as a possible intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.
Initial talks on ending Russia’s invasion in the first days of the war were held in the country.
But Kyiv and its Western backers have largely dismissed his attempts to mediate, seeing him as little more than a mouthpiece for the Kremlin.
Lukashenko is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies and allowed his country to be used as a springboard for Moscow’s February 2022 attack.
Russia has also deployed various military equipment to the country, Ukraine alleges, including relay stations that connect to Russian attack drones, fired in their hundreds every night at Ukrainian cities.
“Today Ukraine applied a package of sanctions against Alexander Lukashenko, and we will significantly intensify countermeasures against all forms of his assistance in the killing of Ukrainians,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement.
Russia has also said it is stationing Oreshnik missiles in Belarus, a feared hypersonic ballistic weapon that Putin has claimed is impervious to air defenses. It has twice been fired on Ukraine during the war — launched from bases in Russia — though caused minimal damage as experts said it was likely fitted with dummy warheads both times.
Zelensky also accused Lukashenko of helping Moscow avoid Western sanctions.
The measures are likely to have little practical effect, but sanctioning a head of state is a highly symbolic move.
Ukraine and several Western states sanctioned Putin at the very start of the war.
Lukashenko has at times tried to present himself as a possible intermediary between Kyiv and Moscow.
Initial talks on ending Russia’s invasion in the first days of the war were held in the country.
But Kyiv and its Western backers have largely dismissed his attempts to mediate, seeing him as little more than a mouthpiece for the Kremlin.
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