US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, who last week said he urged WTO members to eliminate farm subsidies, will be a special guest to the group's 26th ministerial meeting here from today to Wednesday.
Cairns decided to invite Zoellick after he sent the letter urging an end to farm subsidies, Costa Rican diplomat Ronald Saborio said.
"The exact objective of the Cairns Group is to hear Zoellick's position directly from him," he said.
The Cairns Group, founded in 1986, includes Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay.
Saborio said there are signs that the WTO will emerge from the "impasse" it reached last September in failed free-trade negotiations in Cancun, Mexico.
Trade talks, which began in Doha in 2001, fell apart in Cancun after developing nations criticized US and EU farm subsidies.
World Trade Organisation chief Supachai Panitchpakdi, who is also invited to San Jose, told La Nacion newspaper here oyesterday: "There are still grave barriers that are obstacles to trade, competition and economic effectiveness".
Farm subsidies of one billion dollars a day from the world's 30 most industrialised countries are among the biggest hurdles to free trade, he added. – Sapa-AFP.
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