Tony Blair will be the star speaker at the North American Reform movement's 2009 biennial conference in Toronto.

The Union of Reform Judaism's conference is being held in November with 5,000 Reform Jews expected to attend.

Mr Blair, the former British Prime Minister, is currently Middle East envoy for the Quartet, which is made up of the United Nations, the US, Russia and the European Union, as part of the Middle East peace process.

Mr Blair met Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week to discuss ways to improve the Palestinian economy.

Mr Netanyahu reportedly told Mr Blair that the West Bank's Palestinian residents should co-operate better with Israel in order to improve their economic circumstances.