MSYDNEY:(February 21 2004) The 17-nation Cairns Group of agricultural exporters meets in Costa Rica next week to discuss ways to kick-start the stalled Doha round of global trade liberalisation negotiations, Australia said on Friday.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said the three days of talks starting Monday in San Jose come a "crucial time" for rescuing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations.

"Unless there is meaningful progress on agriculture over the next few months, the Doha round will go nowhere in 2004," Vaile said in a statement.

"Everyone will lose if World Trade Organisation members lose sight of the main game — genuine, long-term reform and liberalisation," he said in a statement.

WTO members are preparing to resume the so-called Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations following the failure of a September ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, that collapsed largely over the issue of agricultural subsidies in the European Union and the United States.

The Cairns group, comprising Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay, has been leading the battle to eliminate farm subsidies.


THE NEWS