Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Saturday, 7 February, that he will meet US President Donald Trump in the United States in two weeks. Following the announcement on social media, Orbán added in a subsequent speech that he is travelling to the US for the inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace. According to the prime minister, he received the invitation on Friday.
Hungary joined Trump’s Board of Peace—a new platform for conflict resolution—as a founding member on 22 January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. ‘Hungary is among the founding countries, because Hungary needs peace in order to continue to grow and develop,’ Orbán said at the time.
The political director to the prime minister, Balázs Orbán, praised the Board of Peace as ‘one of the first institutions of the new world order’. In a post on social media, he said Hungary will not be a ‘victim’ of the transformation of the global order, but rather a ‘shaper’ of it. ‘We have a place in every international initiative that prevents and curbs wars and guarantees the security of nations and families,’ Orbán concluded.
The White House is preparing to convene the first leaders’ meeting of the Board of Peace on 19 February in Washington, DC, where discussions are expected to focus on advancing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire and mobilizing international funding for reconstruction in the war-ravaged territory. The gathering, planned at the US Institute of Peace, is also intended to serve as a donor conference and could coincide with a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington a day earlier.
Washington has sent invitations to more than 50 countries to join the Board of Peace, including European states, China, and Russia. To date, the new platform consists of 26 member states in addition to the United States. Western European countries rejected the invitation outright, while Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would study the proposal before making a decision. Beijing stated that it remains committed to the United Nations-based world order and therefore declined to join.
While it is not clear whether Trump and Orbán will hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Board of Peace meeting, the Hungarian prime minister recently said in a panel discussion that Trump ‘should be expected’ to visit Hungary in the near future. ‘We have always said that it would be good for the world if a new type of leader came along who could be a great American president and from whom the world could expect many good things. We have persevered, and in such a situation, I think that sooner or later he will have to visit Hungary.’
Trump recently shared a post on Truth Social endorsing Viktor Orbán for re-election in the upcoming parliamentary vote in April. ‘Highly respected Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, is truly a strong and powerful leader, with a proven track record of delivering phenomenal results. He fights tirelessly for, and loves, his great country and people, just like I do for the United States of America,’ Trump wrote, adding that he was proud to endorse Orbán in 2022 and honoured to do so again.
The two leaders last met in Washington, DC, in November 2025.
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