News and Press Releases

Inaugural Plenary Session of Cairns Group of WTO

 9/21/2006 6:32:00 PM Source : PRO to CM

The plenary session of Cairns Group on WTO held today. Federal Minister for Commerce Mr. Humayun Akhtar Khan also attended the inaugural plenary session. Besides Humayun Akhtar, there were ministers of trade and representatives of seventeen other Cairns Group countries. Susan Shawab, U.S Secretary Agriculture, and Director General of WTO, Mr. Pascal Lamy also attended the plenary session as special guests.

The Cairns Group of agricultural exporting nations, which account for over 25 per cent of the world’s agricultural exports, celebrates 20 years of concentrated efforts to liberalize trade in agriculture. The meeting brought together Trade Ministers, officials and farm industry bodies from the 18 Cairns Group countries Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia Malaysia, New Zeeland, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.

As the first significant gathering of Ministers since the suspension of the WTO Doha round of negotiations, the Cairns Group Ministerial Meeting provided a useful opportunity to discuss how to receive global trade talks. During the current Doha negotiations the Cairns Group has continued to push for the liberalization of trade in agricultural exports, a cause that unites the Group across language, cultural and geographic boundaries, made up of developed and developing countries across five continents, the Group is committed to achieving free and fair trade in agriculture that provides real and sustainable benefits for the developing world.

Source: http://www.commerce.gov.pk/read.asp?newsID=164