KUWAIT CITY (AFP) -- International Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair arrived in Kuwait on Sunday as he kicked off a two-week regional tour ahead of a U.S.-sponsored international peace conference later this year.

Blair, who was appointed the Quartet envoy in late June after stepping down from a decade as British prime minister, is due to travel to Saudi Arabia and Egypt before arriving in Israel on Tuesday, his spokesman Matthew Doyle said in a statement.
""During the trip Blair will have detailed discussions with Israelis and Palestinians on a range of economic and security issues,"" Doyle said.
British ambassador to Kuwait Stuart Laing told the official KUNA news agency that Blair will hold detailed discussions in Saudi Arabia.
During his maiden visit to the region as envoy of the Quartet -- European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- in July, Blair said he eyed a ""moment of opportunity"" in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
U.S. President George W. Bush has called for a Middle East peace conference to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian talks later this year