President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday said that Mexico would not join US President Donald Trump's newly launched Board of Peace and would instead participate as an observer.
Sheinbaum said that Mexico recognizes the pursuit of peace in any forum that may open up. However, "when it comes specifically to peace in the Middle East, in Palestine, given that we recognize Palestine as a state, it is important for both states, Israel and Palestine, to participate. And this is not how it is set up at the meeting."
Sheinbaum said that Mexico would "probably" send its ambassador to the United Nations to observe the first meeting on Thursday of the new body, which Trump established as part of a peace plan for the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Trump's brainchild, the Board of Peace, was officially launched by the US president last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It is designed to oversee reconstruction and security in the Gaza Strip.
Many European countries - including Germany - see the Board of Peace as a competitor to the United Nations and have declined invitations to join it.
