ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: Pakistan will host Cairns group meeting in a bid to evolve a strategy for reviving the stalled Doha negotiations.

A senior official in the commerce ministry told Dawn on Saturday that the meeting to be held in Pakistan in April next would be attended by trade ministers from 17 member countries. It was also likely that the trade ministers of India, US and EU would also be invited as observers to the meeting.

The Cairns group — which accounts for more than a quarter of the world's agricultural exports comprises Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.

"We are attaching great hope for the positive outcome of the meeting. There is a need for a breakthrough in the WTO stalled negotiations," he said, adding it would be the last hope of salvaging the multilateral trading system from developing countries point of view.

Pakistan joined the Cairns Group, headed by Australia, in November 2005 in a bid to seek a greater market access for its agriculture products. Since its formation in 1986, the group has played an influential role in negotiations on agriculture and was instrumental in the insistence by developing countries that a framework for the reform of agricultural subsidies be formalized.

Some of the points that the Group is campaigning for include: substantial improvements in market access for its farm products; big cuts in subsidies to US and EU farmers; and the phasing out of export subsidies.