NEW YORK - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto along with Arab and Muslim leaders have appealed to United States President Donald Trump to lead the peace process in the Gaza Strip, reported ANTARA news agency.
The request was conveyed during the multilateral meeting on Gaza convened by President Trump and attended by Prabowo along with representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkiye, according to Foreign Minister Sugiono.
"They asked for US leadership in resolving the issue in Gaza and Palestine," Sugiono stated in a press conference at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Tuesday local time.
During the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, President Trump was briefed by attending national leaders about the current situation in the Middle East, especially in countries bordering Palestine, Sugiono said.
"Participants also conveyed their hopes that the US will be involved in efforts to achieve a ceasefire, then peace, and for the realisation of the two-state solution," the foreign minister added.
Sugiono said that President Prabowo has reaffirmed Indonesia's commitment to contribute to all phases of the peace process in Gaza, including deploying peacekeeping personnel upon UN Security Council mandate.
"The president pledged a significant number: 20,000 peacekeeping personnel not only for Gaza and Palestine but also for other parts of the world," he remarked.
Despite the impromptu nature of the meeting, the foreign minister informed that it took place productively with positive responses from President Trump. He also highlighted progress made during the meeting to address conflicts in the Middle East and the ceasefire in Gaza.
"I believe President Trump responded to it positively, as we know that there is an ongoing humanitarian disaster," Sugiono said.
Meanwhile, President Trump described the encounter with Prabowo and Arab and Islamic leaders to talk about Gaza as "very important," as reported by Anadolu.
"We're going to talk about Gaza. We're going to see if we can do something about it. We want to stop that. We want to get our hostages back, or their hostages back," he said. - BERNAMA