ROME, January 24. /TASS/. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he is ready to join the Board of Peace, created by US President Donald Trump, but Berlin "cannot accept its governance structures" in their present form.

"A few weeks ago, I told President Trump that I’m personally ready to join the Board of Peace on the condition that it will be a body, which, as was initially planned, will oversee the peace process in the Gaza Strip, including Phase Two, which sadly has not yet been launched and which includes Hamas disarmament," he said at a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. "However, given the current shape of the Board of Peace, we cannot accept its governance structures here, in Germany, also for constitutional reasons."

"However, we are certainly ready to examine other new forms of cooperation with the United States of America if we talk about searching for new formats that will bring us closer to peace in various regions of the world. And I don’t want to be limited only by the Gaza Strip and the Middle East," the German chancellor continued, adding that Ukraine was also included on the list.

On January 22, representatives of 19 countries signed the charter establishing the Board of Peace for Gaza peace efforts in a ceremony on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. More than 50 countries will join the Board of Peace, US President Donald Trump said. While the initiative was established based on an agreement between Israel and the radical Palestinian movement Hamas to govern the enclave, it will handle the prevention and resolution of conflicts in other regions as well.