ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan will leave next month for Australia to attend the 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 Friday that the minister would represent Pakistan at the meeting scheduled for September 20-22 in Australia to be attended by ministers from 18 farm exporting countries.

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.

According to the official, the G-20 group of developing countries will also meet on September 9-10 in Brazil to make an attempt to help revive the Doha development agenda (DDA) talks collapsed recently in Geneva.

"We are attaching great hope for the positive outcome of these meetings. There is a need for a breakthrough in the WTO stalled negotiations," he said adding that it would be the last hope of salvaging the multilateral trading system.

The 21-member nations of the G-20 have about 60 per cent of the world's population and are responsible for about 21 per cent of the agricultural exports.

The G-20 was formed in 2003 with Brazil as one of its leading member nations. The other members are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, China, Cuba, Egypt, the Philippines, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, South Africa, Thailand, Tanzania, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.