Political, business leaders invited by Trump for his inauguration

LAHORE: Due to be inaugurated on January 20, US President-elect, Donald Trump, has reportedly invited various global leaders like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, French politician, Eric Zemmour, British political figure and a key Trump ally, Nigel Farage, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, Argentina’s Javier Milei, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and Hungary’s Viktor Orban etc for his swearing-in ceremony by breaking all traditions, while India will be represented by its External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

The inauguration ceremony will be held in Washington DC at 10 pm Pakistan Standard Time on coming Monday.

According to Forbes, Messrs Elon Reeve Musk (owner of Tesla and X), Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon) and Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram), worth an estimated $850 billion combined, will also be seated together at the event—a rarity when the word’s three richest people will be witnessed under the same roof with Trump’s cabinet nominees!

Meanwhile, Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, will also be there.

Quoting leading American and international media houses like the CNN, Fox News, CBS News, Sky News, Bloomberg, X (formerly Twitter), Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, a noted Indian newspaper “The Indian Express” writes: “Invitations have been extended to several major global powers and key US allies, including India, highlighting the diplomatic emphasis of the event.

Meanwhile, prominent industry leaders are vying for VIP access, aiming to build connections and secure favour with the incoming Trump administration.”

The “Times of India” maintains: “ Donald Trump invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to the January 20 inauguration which Xi turned down but now that has opened a floodgate of eager foreign leaders who want to be invited to the inauguration, a “New York Post” report claimed citing sources.

It was not the custom for foreign leaders to attend the inaugurations of US presidents but after Trump invited Xi, many others “are burning up the phone lines to their agents in Washington DC — demanding access, the report said. These leaders are from Chile, Peru, Nigeria and Mozambique, one registered foreign agent told the Post.”

The “US News” asserts: “Chinese President Xi Jinping of China appears to have been invited but will be sending a top envoy to represent his government.

The Kremlin has confirmed Putin did not receive an invitation. Trump suggested during a press conference that he would meet with his Russian counterpart separately after the inauguration.

Despite a close relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump has not invited the embattled leader. Netanyahu reportedly planned to attend even after a recent prostate removal surgery. But an aide last week said that would not be the case.”

The American media outlet reveals: “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would like to attend but that it would be inappropriate unless he was personally invited. Trump confirmed on Dec. 16 that he had not invited Zelenskyy but added that if the Ukrainian leader wanted to take part, he would “like to have him.” While it’s not confirmed that Trump snubbed the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Un, whose international profile he elevated during his first term in office, Pyongyang has given no indication that it has received or accepted such an offer.”