US President George W. Bush will meet Tony Blair in New York on Monday, their first direct talks since the former British prime minister became international Middle East envoy, the White House said.
Mr Bush will meet Mr Blair after separate session with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, also in New York the day before Mr Bush and other world leaders address the UN General Assembly.
The round of talks could help lay the groundwork for a US- sponsored Middle East peace conference set for November.
Mr Bush played an instrumental role in last June's appointment of Mr Blair, his close ally in the 2003 Iraq invasion, as special envoy for the Quartet of Middle East mediators, the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during a 36-hour visit to the region this week but there was little sign she had managed to bridge their differences ahead of the US-led conference.
Michael Kozak, a senior official at the White House National Security Council, told reporters Mr Bush's talks with Mr Blair and Palestinian leaders are seen as an opportunity to advance a vision of Israel and an eventual Palestinian state living side by side in peace.
Mr Bush has promoted a two-state solution but has been accused by critics of doing little to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, stalled by violence and mutual mistrust for most of his administration.