Davos: Trump claims he’ll end Ukraine-Russia war ‘pretty soon’ while launching ‘board of peace’– live updates | Greenland
Trump: We’ll settle another war pretty soon
Trump says we now have ‘peace in the Middle East’, repeats his claim to having settled eight wars, and then suggests that “another one’s coming pretty soon”.
He means Russia-Ukraine, calling it “the one I thought was going to be an easy one” but turned out to be the most difficult.
29,000 people, mostly soldiers, died last month, Trump says, a “terrible” toll.
He adds “we’re making a lot of progress” in the peace talks, echoing what we heard from Steve Witkoff this morning.
Key events
And finally, Donald Trump returns to the lecturn for some concluding remarks, in which he riffs about Gaza’s real estate possibilities.
Look at this location by the sea, look at this “beautiful piece of property”, Trump says, suggesting that people who are living so poorly today will be living so well.
And finally, he promises that the board of peace will be important, and not a waste of time.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is now on stage, outlining plans for the redevelopment of Gaza.
Kushner says the plans will be conducted in phases, including a push on workforce housing, where he suggests could also be a lot of industry, 100% employment and opportunity for everyone.
He’s now showing Davos a property development map of Gaza, and a computer-generated picture of ‘New Gaza’, with coastal tourism.
Gaza’s Rafah crossing to reopen next week
The board of peace ceremony then bring some good news: Gaza’s Rafah crossing will reopen next week.
Davos delegates are being played a video message from Ali Shaath, leader of the Palestinian technocratic committee, who reveal that the crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen next week.
Shaath says “this is a real step, and it marks a new direction”.
But he adds that there is much more work to do, none of it is easy.
The Rafah crossing is the only one that was not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side; last October, Israel said it would stay closed ‘until further notice’, to put pressure on Hamas to return the remains of deceased hostages.
Marco Rubio is now delivering a rather obsequious speech about Donald Trump’s accomplishments, and his ‘historic presidency’.
The US secretary of state cites what’s happening in Gaza, where he says Trump had the “vision and the courage to dream the impossible” for what many thought was an intractable problem.
Rubio says that many of the institutions that have “served us well over 70 years” were unable to do anything about it (which won’t calm fears that the board of peace is being set up to supercede those institutions).
Rubio talks about a new era and a new stage, and a model to the rest of the world of what is possible.
The vision of the future for Gaza is “our destiny” if we put the time and effort needed in, he concludes.
Trump then signs the inaugural resolution for the board of peace’s Gaza mandate, per the UN security council resolution 2803.
Signing ceremony underway
Trump’s remarks are over, and the signing ceremony is underway.
Those country’s signing up are joining Trump at a signing ceremony, two by two, starting with Sheikh Isa of Bahrain and Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita.
After a moment, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declares:
Congratulations, president Trump, the charter is now in full force and the board of peace is now an official international organisation.
Other leaders then follow in pairs, showing their paperwork to the room afterwards.
The world is a region, and we’re going to have peace in the world, Trump muses.
Trump suggests that the ‘board of peace’ will work with the United Nations to end conflict in the world.
(there are suspicious that it could be a ploy to replace the UN).
On Gaza, Trump says Hamas must return the last, deceased, hostage to Israel.
Peering over to the leaders on the stage, Trump announces that he likes every single one of them.
Usually there’s two or three I don’t like, he jokes (!).
Trump claims the ’board of peace’ is one of the most consequential bodies ever created, and that he was “honoured” to be asked to be the chairman.
Onto Venezuela, Trump claims “all the oil companies” want to go in immediately.
[Oil CEOs have warned that significant investment is needed]
Trump grumbles that while most Nato allies have increased their military spending, under his urging, Spain is lagging.
He suggests Madrid “wants a free ride”.
