Russia Today: Tony Blair has reportedly agreed to advise Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as part of a United Arab Emirates-funded program that promises lucrative “business opportunities” to those involved.
The former British prime minister is set to give Sisi advice on economic reform in tandem with a UAE-financed task force in Cairo, the Guardian reported Wednesday.
According to the daily, the task force is being run by the management consultancy Strategy&, formerly Booz and Co, now part of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The group hopes to attract foreign direct investment to Egypt’s crisis-racked economy at an upcoming Egypt donors’ conference, which is being sponsored by oil-rich UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Blair, who has worked since he left the British government in 2007 as a Middle East envoy, supported the coup against Egypt’s democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi last July and continues to generate controversy with his complicated dealings in the region. Last month, for example, Blair advocated a new Western-led military intervention in Iraq to fight against the jihadist ISIS group.
A spokeswoman for Blair told the Guardian that his attempts to garner support for Egypt from the international community was not being done “for any personal gain whatsoever.”
Congratulations to Tony Blair for landing this new job. Really remarkable, how he manages to keep so many jobs at a time, such as ‘The Middle East Peace Envoy’ as well. When will he resign from that one? (or be kicked out?). The creation of that position is an example of the European version of corruption, actually…