Romney, Obama to appear at Clinton Global Initiative meeting

{mosads}”CGI is built on the spirit of non-partisan, cross-sector collaborations that drive action, and I’m proud that, since we began in 2005, CGI members have made more than 2,100 commitments that are already improving the lives of 400 million people all over the world,” Clinton said.

This will be Obama’s fifth consecutive visit to the forum; the president was already planning to be in New York for the opening session of the United Nations, according to USA Today.

In 2008, John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin attended the conference, although the former Alaska governor did not have a speaking role.

Other speakers will include former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeline Albright, senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.

The announcement comes less than a week after Clinton’s widely-heralded speech at the Democratic National Convention in praise of Obama’s candidacy — one that ironically earned praise from both candidates.

While Obama said he’d like to appoint Clinton “the secretary of explaining stuff,” Mitt Romney also praised the speech, saying the current president’s speech paled in comparison to Clinton.

“I think he really did elevate the Democrat convention in a lot of ways and, frankly, the contrast may not have been as attractive as Barack Obama might have preferred if he were choosing who’d go before him and who’d go after him,” Romney told NBC News.