Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, has been appointed as a member of the Conservative Party's economic recovery committee.
The committee will meet every two weeks to talk about the financial crisis and review related policy, party leader David Cameron announced this week.
Schmidt will join business leaders and former civil servants Sir Christopher Gent, Sir Peter Middleton, Baroness Sheila Noakes, Sir Brian Pitman, Sir James Sassoon and Simon Wolfson on the committee.
They will serve in a personal capacity rather than as representatives of their respective organisations, Cameron says.
Cameron will chair the committee, with George Osborne taking his place when he is absent.
The other members include Ken Clarke, Theresa May, David Willetts, Philip Hammond, Oliver Letwin and William Hague, who are all members of the shadow cabinet.
Commenting on Schmidt's appointment as international business adviser, Cameron admits that the Google leader "won't be able to attend [meetings] that often" due to his California location.
Schmidt has previously spoken at the Conservative Party's conference, while Cameron also addressed the Google Zeitgeist Europe event in 2006 and 2007.
Prime minister Gordon Brown spoke at the same Google event in 2008.
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