2007年VOA标准英语-ASEAN Ministers Near Trade Deal with Japan, Adv
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(八月)
Jakarta
25 August 2007
Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan have put the final touches on a free-trade deal, one of the largest in Asia. The ASEAN officials also have agreed on a blueprint 1 that would create a seamless regional economy by 2015. Chad Bouchard reports from Jakarta.
ASEAN economic ministers during a photo session after their 10th Economic Ministers Meeting with their three dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea, 25 Aug 2007
Under the deal reached Saturday, Japan will lift import tariffs 2 on 90 percent of goods from the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. That percentage will rise over the next decade to 93 percent.
In return, ASEAN's wealthier six nations will cut tariffs on 90 percent of Japanese goods. The four smaller, impoverished 3 members - Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam - will make cuts later and more slowly.
Trade ministers gathered in Manila for a three-day meeting say the deal will sharply increase trade between ASEAN and Japan, which already tops 160 billion dollars.
While ASEAN is making progress on trade deals with Japan, China and other countries, it is also making progress in expanding internal trade. On Friday, the ASEAN ministers approved a blueprint for creating a free-trade zone by 2015.
The ASEAN Economic Community, or AEC, hopes to form an integrated group like the European Union, which can stand up to trade giants such as China and India.
University of Adelaide Economics Professor Christopher Findlay says the blueprint may not be enough to lure 4 investors 5 to the region. He says key components 6 such as infrastructure 7 and product standards will have to be addressed more rigorously.
"Yeah, so it's okay to make commitments about border change, and it's really important to do that, and the gains from getting that right are huge. But there's strategy in actually implementing 8 it. I think what we're discovering is that you need to be thinking about what's happening behind the border as well," said Findlay.
Discussion over trade in the agriculture sector 9 has been sidelined due to a stalemate over farm subsidies 10 and trade barriers.
Findlay says that since farm products dominate the export market in Southeast Asia, the AEC trade agreement is weakened by their exclusion 11.
ASEAN is made up of 10 countries - Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - with a combined gross domestic product of one-point-one trillion dollars.
The group has been hammering out trade deals with six countries, including Japan and China, which are to be finalized 12 this year.
The guidelines for the ASEAN Economic Community are expected to be signed during the group's summit in Singapore this November.
- All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
- The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。
- 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。
- the impoverished areas of the city 这个城市的贫民区
- They were impoverished by a prolonged spell of unemployment. 他们因长期失业而一贫如洗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
- He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。
- a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
- a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会
- the components of a machine 机器部件
- Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设,发展各类群众文化。
- -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
- He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句
- 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。
- 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》
- Don't revise a few topics to the exclusion of all others.不要修改少数论题以致排除所有其他的。
- He plays golf to the exclusion of all other sports.他专打高尔夫球,其他运动一概不参加。