SYDNEY, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Australia has invited U.S. and European officials to the far northern city of Cairns next month in an attempt to salvage the Doha round of trade talks.
The Australian newspaper revealed Wednesday that Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile was spearheading efforts to salvage the World Trade Organization negotiations, which collapsed in Geneva last week.
The talks are "not dead but really are just hanging by a thread," he said.
Initially, the September meeting was for the Australian-led "Cairns Group" of 18 farm-exporting countries to mark its 20th anniversary but it has been expanded to include the United States and the European Union.
"If, out of this meeting, the U.S. is more flexible, we might get the Europeans moving -- and that's the object of the exercise," Vaile told The Australian.
