¡¡¡¡CANBERRA, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Cairns Group announced Saturday a bid to cut levels of agricultural tariffs and expand country tariff rate quotas, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.

¡¡¡¡Trade Minister Mark Vaile was quoted as saying in a statement that the proposal was for adoption by the World Trade Organisationas part of the current WTO Doha Development Round of trade negotiations.

¡¡¡¡"The Cairns Group members proposal would not only add a new dynamic to the WTO negotiations, but also demonstrates the commitment of Cairns Group members to help developing countries," Vaile said.

¡¡¡¡"We have developed concrete proposals to address poverty alleviation and food security concerns of developing countries," he said, adding "Our proposal would allow them time to adjust to trade liberalization measures and, in recognition of the special needs of least developed countries, we would not require any tariff reduction commitments from them."

¡¡¡¡While no details of the proposal were released, Vaile said it was very beneficial to Australia. Agricultural tariffs had for a long time represented an artificial barrier to efficient Australian agricultural producers and kept their products out of many major markets, he said.

¡¡¡¡The Cairns Group comprises Australia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand and Uruguay. Enditem