By Tamara Vaal and Felix Light
ASTANA/ALMATY, Jan 19 (Reuters) – Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will join the “Board of Peace” proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, their press secretaries said on Monday.
The board would be chaired for life by Trump and would start by addressing the Gaza conflict and then be expanded to deal with other conflicts, according to a copy of the letter and draft charter seen by Reuters.
Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have been courted by Trump, who has invited both presidents to the G20 in Miami in December.
Kazakhstan is a major energy exporter which borders China and has pipelines to Europe, while Uzbekistan has the biggest population in Central Asia. Tokayev and Mirziyoyev each took over from a long-ruling, Soviet-era leader in the last decade.
Trump has sought to deepen U.S. ties with Central Asia, where Russia and China have traditionally held major sway. Last year, he hosted the leaders of all five Central Asian countries at the White House.
Tokayev’s spokesman, Ruslan Zheldibay, said that Kazakhstan’s leader was one of the first to receive an invitation from Trump to join the new board. Kazakhstan’s invitation was first reported by local outlet TengriNews.
“The head of state sent a letter to the president of the United States expressing sincere gratitude and confirming his agreement to join this new association,” Zheldibay said.
“President K. Tokayev confirmed Kazakhstan’s commitment to contribute to the achievement of lasting peace in the Middle East, strengthening interstate trust and global stability,” he added.
Uzbek President Mirziyoyev’s press secretary, Sherzod Asadov, wrote on Telegram: “The head of our state sent a reply to his American counterpart, in which he expressed Uzbekistan’s readiness to join the Board of Peace as a founding member state.”
Trump has invited 60 countries to join the “Board of Peace”. Permanent membership will be available to those who pay $1 billion.
(Reporting by Tamara Vaal in Astana and Felix Light in Almaty; editing by Guy Faulconbridge/Andrew Osborn/Peter Graff)
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