Box 6: The ТCairns groupУ, offensive on agriculture issues

This group holds its name from the Australian city of Cairns where it was created in August 1986. It is the most lasting example of offensive coalition. It is geographically and economically diverse, bringing together developed countries as well as DCs, regional powers (such as Brazil, Australia, Canada or South Africa) and more modest actors of international relations such as Guatemala, Paraguay or New Zealand. Despite their diversity, these countries all share the same objective of liberalizing agricultural trade.

After succeeding to put agriculture on the negotiating table during the Uruguay Round, the coalition seeks to cut drastically tariffs applied to agricultural products and to put an end to export subsidies[50] and domestic support[51] used mainly by the EU and the US.

The coalition is active in WTO Ministerial Conferences and discusses occasionally with other coalitions such as the G-20[52].

Source: Author

The defensive coalition

A coalition can also be mainly defensive, with the following objectives:

б Avoid to remain isolated in criticizing an agreement;

б Preserve a situation that provides certain advantages;

б Retain the status quo, with a minimum level of liberalization.

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