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Geneva - Former British prime minister Tony Blair is joining the governing board of the World Economic Forum, best known for its annual meeting of the global political and economic elite in the Swiss resort of Davos, the body announced Thursday.
"Tony Blair brings to the Forum a tremendous wealth of experience and knowledge in all areas of the global agenda and he certainly will be very essential to shape our activities," the Forum's founder Klaus Schwab said.
Like other members of the board, Blair will only receive expenses for his new role in the Geneva-based Forum, which promotes partnerships between the public and corporate sector to solve global problems, a WEF spokesperson told AFP.
Blair took part in the meeting in January, arguing that "interdependence is the defining characteristic of the early 21st century" and advocating global alliances between different sectors of society.
Peter Sutherland, a board member and chairperson of Goldman Sachs International and oil giant BP said: "Tony Blair will make an enormous contribution to the World Economic Forum's objective of 'improving the state of the world'."
Apart from Sutherland, the ex-British Labour Party leader will rub shoulders with 17 other mainly corporate figures on the board.
The elite club's paying members include 1 000 major companies.
The meeting in Davos has attracted sharp criticism from anti-globalisation groups because it promotes confidential contacts between big business and governments. They set up an annual World Social Summit as a counterweight.