Cairns Group is an international organization of countries that export agricultural goods. The organization takes its name from Cairns, the Australian town where it held its first meeting. The group favors open global trading policies relating to farm goods.
The Cairns Group began in 1986, when 14 founding nations, most of them in Asia or South America, banded together under Australia‘s leadership. Their goal is to ensure that agricultural issues receive high priority in international trade discussions. They pushed for trade reform at the Uruguay Round negotiations, which established the World Trade Organization in 1995. A fundamental interest of the Cairns Group is to increase incomes in developing countries. Many of the group’s 19 current members are developing countries.
The founding members of the Cairns Group are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, Thailand, and Uruguay. South Africa entered the group in 1998. Bolivia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala joined in 1999, and Pakistan became a member in 2005.
