Australia's national wheat exporter said that during this period it would work toward a fairer international marketplace for Australian grain. AWB and the Grains Council of Australia would host a forum in Seattle on Monday, to be attended by US and European officials and opened by Australian trade minister Mark Vaile, AWB said in a statement on Friday.

Trade issues such as export subsidies, market access and state trading will be debated. AWB chairman Trevor Flugge and government relations manager Andrew McConville will lobby for a greater commitment to trade liberalisation, it said. "Australian wheat producers need a real commitment from the major wheat producing nations of the United States and the European Union that they will work towards reducing trade distorting domestic support measures andexport subsidies," Flugge said. Leaders of Australia's national farm lobby group the National farmers' Federation (NFF) left on Saturday for Seattle.

The delegation included NFF president Ian Donges, the chairman of NFF's economic and trade committee Brendan Stewart, NFF's director of trade and quarantine Lyall Howard and special trade representative Graham Blight. "Australia, as chair of the Cairns Group, is determined that the remaining high protectionist measures against agricultural trade must be abolished," Donges said.

"However, Cairns Group farmers face some awesome opponents, especially from the EU, and this could be a long and drawn out battle," he said."We are encouraged by statements from the US agriculture secretary Dan Glickman that continued reforms in agriculture remain a top priority for the US and that the US will work closely with the Cairns Group during the round," Donges said.