Norway rejects Trump’s offer to join ‘Board of Peace’

Norway’s government said Wednesday it would not join the “Board of Peace” initiated by US President Donald Trump, who has vented his frustration at the Nordic country after being snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The American proposal raises a number of questions” requiring “further dialogue with the United States”, State Secretary Kristoffer Thoner said in a statement.

“Norway will therefore not join the proposed arrangements for the Board of Peace, and will therefore not attend a signing ceremony in Davos,” Thoner said. Norway would continue its close cooperation with the United States, he added.

Trump’s Board of Peace was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza, but according to its charter the scope does not appear to limit its role to the Palestinian territory.

The US administration has asked countries to pay up to $1 billion for a permanent spot on the board, on which Trump will serve as chairman.

“For Norway, it is important how this proposal is linked to established structures as the UN, and to our international commitments,” Thoner added.

The government representative added that Norway shared Trump’s “goal of lasting peace in Ukraine, Gaza and in other situations”.

Trump has repeatedly said he believes he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize. Last year’s prize went to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

In a message to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store published Monday, Trump said having been denied the prize he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace”.

Store said in a statement: “I have clearly explained, including to President Trump, what is well known — the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee.

AFP