Cairns Group Calls for Doha Talks to Resume in November

The 20^th Anniversary Ministerial Meeting of the Cairns Group has delivered a strong call for the resumption of the Doha trade negotiations no later than November, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, said today.

“The Cairns Group call to resume negotiations in November is a major boost to efforts to restart the Doha talks. The communiqué released at the end of the meeting makes clear that the Doha talks cannot be allowed to drift. There is too much at stake for farmers from Australia and other Cairns Group members who continue to face huge subsidy and tariff barriers into markets like the US, EC and Japan”.

Mr Vaile said the presence of a number of Special Guests at the meeting including WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa and a representative of the European Communities had allowed Cairns Group members to emphasise to these key players the importance of an ambitious outcome to the negotiations.

“WTO Director-General Lamy commended the Cairns Group for the central role it was playing in efforts to revive the negotiations”, Mr Vaile said. “For twenty years the Cairns Group has been at the forefront of those supporting the need for ambitious reform to world trade”.

“USTR Schwab, Secretary for Agriculture Johanns and other invited guests also urged the Cairns Group to continue its key role in building support for the restart of negotiations. The US made clear it appreciated the important role the Cairns Group was playing in pushing for greater ambition in the key areas of market access and domestic support”.

Mr Vaile said that Australia would continue to push for an ambitious outcome to the negotiations.

“There was considerable interest at the meeting in Australia’s ‘five plus five’ proposal that calls on both the US and EC to go further than their current reform proposals. The meeting also had an important discussion on development issues including Special Products for developing countries and has agreed on a new work program to look for greater convergence on these and other issues”.

Mr Vaile said that ministers also welcomed the offer from the Group’s newest member, Pakistan, to host the next Cairns Group ministerial meeting in 2007.

The Cairns Group is a diverse coalition of 18 agricultural exporting countries bringing together developed and developing countries from Latin America, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region and continues to push for the liberalisation of trade in agricultural exports.

Contact: Mr Vaile's Office 02 6277 7420, Departmental 02 6261 1555

Cairns Group members: Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay