2006年VOA标准英语-Asia-Pacific Business Leaders Call for End to D

By Luis Ramirez
Hanoi
15 November 2006

Cabinet members from across the Asia-Pacific region are looking for ways to re-start stalled world trade negotiations¹. The ministers started their meetings in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, on Wednesday, in preparation for a summit of leaders of 21 economies on Saturday and Sunday.  The business leaders' meeting is part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum². They are also calling for a break in the world trade impasse³.

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Business leaders from the vast region stretching from Chile to the United States and China to Indonesia have been producing advice for their governments on how to make global trade freer.

For businesses in poorer economies, such as that of Peru, securing new markets for exports is an opportunity to lift millions out of poverty.

Juan Raffo, the chairman of a Peruvian textiles group that is trying to find new markets in Asia, says that before, his factories were limited to selling to a market of 28 million people. Today, thanks to exports, they are selling to the United States and to Asian countries such as China and Japan. He says the market for his products has now grown to hundreds of millions of consumers.

That, he says, has meant higher demand and more sales, which adds up to more jobs at his factories.

The Peruvian businessman says he believes there is opportunity for him to sell more in Asia, even to formidable textile producers such as Vietnam.

He says his textiles are of higher quality and of different types than those that China and Vietnam are selling to Peru. He calls it a complementary trade relationship.

Raffo and other business leaders are pushing for faster action by governments on resolving the world trade dispute. Talks have been stalled for months, mainly over agricultural subsidies⁴ and tariffs⁵ that the U.S. and the European Union have in place. 

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab addresses  press conference in Hanoi, 15 November 2006

U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab on Wednesday told reporters at the APEC forum that reviving world trade talks is a top trading priority for all APEC members, including the United States.

There are hopes that APEC leaders will make concessions⁶ and thus set an example for non-APEC economies to follow so the impasse can be resolved.

In a draft of the meeting's final statement made available here Wednesday, the leaders vow⁷ to "move beyond" their current commitments in "key areas."

The negotiations' ultimate goal is to bring down tariffs and other trade barriers in the hope of increasing commerce, especially between rich and poor nations.

Among the plans under discussion here is one to create a free-trade area that spans the Pacific Ocean. With global trade talks at a standstill, however, APEC leaders are looking at that plan as a long-term possibility, and are instead focusing, for now, on negotiating scores of individual free trade agreements.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

4 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

6 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

7 vow   

n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓

参考例句：

• My parents are under a vow to go to church every Sunday.我父母许愿，每星期日都去做礼拜。
• I am under a vow to drink no wine.我已立誓戒酒。