2006年VOA标准英语-Africa-South America Summit Opens in Abuja

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja, Nigeria
28 November 2006

More than 60 heads of a state and governments are arriving in Abuja, Nigeria, for the first Africa-South America summit on Wednesday. Gilbert da Costa in Abuja reports for VOA that foreign ministers and other officials have been meeting since Sunday to prepare an agenda for the start of the talks.

---

Talk of cooperation between the two continents will dominate the talks in Nigeria at a time when Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela are striving for a greater presence on a continent once carved up by Europe.

Already, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez has nearly doubled the number of embassies on the continent since January 2005.

And, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who hosted a three-way summit recently with his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has made five trips to the continent since coming to power in 2002.

Bilateral¹ trade between Brazil and Africa has doubled since 2003. Nigeria also announced that its total volume of trade with Brazil reached $4.9 billion in the last year.

Akerodolu Olabanji, spokesman for the organizers, gave an insight into the agenda.

"The main issues that are likely to be discussed would include areas such as investment, investment sector², energy, natural resources, such things like that, and to sum up, co-operation itself," he said.  "This is just an initial summit and the main idea is to look at how to solidify³ the arrangements bringing the two continents together. I think they will delve⁴ into peace and security, democracy, agro-allied sectors⁵ and so on."

Mr. Olabanji also confirmed that African leaders attending the summit will discuss the Darfur crisis on Thursday.

"One very important issue, this concerns mainly the presidents of Africa, is that the Sudan-Darfur issue that will be discussed after the closure of the summit on Thursday. That will only involve the African leaders," he said.

Conference organizers say 900 delegates from 53 African countries and 12 South American countries have confirmed their participation⁶.

Analysts⁷ say Africa, long neglected by the rest of the world, is now attracting significant attention following recent high-profile initiatives by China and the European Union to establish closer ties.

1 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 solidify   

v.(使)凝固，(使)固化，(使)团结

参考例句：

• Opinion on this question began to solidify.对这个问题的意见开始具体化了。
• Water will solidify into ice if you freeze it.水冷冻会结冰。

4 delve   

v.深入探究，钻研

参考例句：

• We should not delve too deeply into this painful matter.我们不应该过分深究这件痛苦的事。
• We need to delve more deeply into these questions.这些是我们想进一步了解的。

5 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。