VOA常速英语2015--非洲国家希望从美国新立法中受益

African Nations Hope to Benefit From Renewed US Legislation 非洲国家希望从美国新立法中受益

The United States and African nations hold the first conference this week in Gabon on the African Growth and Opportunities Act since Congress recently renewed a zero tariff 1 deal for another 10 years. African nations hope to better exploit preferential access in the future - most analysts 2 say AGOA has been under-utilized.

Exhibitors at the AGOA forum 3 in the Gabonese capital, Libreville, are ready to take full advantage of exporting their products into the U.S. tax free. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield is attending the forum and said more countries can benefit from AGOA.

正出席这一论坛负责非洲事务的美国助理国务卿琳达·托马斯·格林菲尔德表示更多的国家可以从《非洲增长与机会法》中受益。

“We are working with those countries through our trade hubs and through consultations 4 with American companies and trade ministers to try to increase the productivity of companies that are exporting to the U.S. to increase the quality of the products that they are increasing,” said Thomas-Greenfield.

“我们正在与这些国家开展合作，通过我们的贸易中心,通过与美国公司及贸易部长间进行协商来提高各大公司出口到美国产品的生产率以提升产品质量。”

She said it is a long-term process and won’t happen overnight. While this is an exciting time for the Gabonese leadership, the average person in Libreville doesn’t know what AGOA is.

她表示这是一个长期过程,不会在一夜之间发生。虽然对于加蓬的领导权而言这是令人激动的时刻,但利伯维尔的普通市民并不知晓《非洲增长与机会法》是什么。

"Personally this is the first time I am hearing about AGOA," said one local.

“我个人还是第一次听说《非洲增长与机会法》这个词。”

Another resident expressed hopes young entrepreneurs like him can get help.

另一位居民表示希望像他这样的年轻企业家也能从中获得帮助。

"It’s always been difficult because banks around here do not give us loans or help us in any way. They don't take chances on us so [I] hope AGOA can help us with a solution," said Ahmed Mikalal, a resident of Libreville.

“这一直很困难,因为这里银行不贷款给我们或通过任何方式帮助我们。他们不会给我们希望，因此我们希望《非洲增长与机会法》可以提供解决方案,”

Few African economies have taken advantage of the U.S. trade initiative. Dumile Cele, the Durban chamber 5 of commerce chief executive, said the trade partnership 6 has helped advance South Africa's manufacturing sector 7.

几乎没有非洲经济体利用美国贸易法案。德班商会的首席执行官杜米尔·克莱表示贸易伙伴关系已帮助推动南非制造业。

"South Africa has been able to grow the export of besides the citrus which are agricultural goods, besides those we have been able to export an enormous amount of vehicles, parts into the U.S.A. market,” said Cele.

“除农产品柑橘及那些我们能够出口大量进入美国市场的部分车辆外，南非已经扩大了出口市场。”

But Witney Schneidman, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted 8 that there have been some disparities.

但布鲁金斯学会非本土研究员卡梅隆·斯涅德曼指出其中存在的一些差异。

“South Africa exports about $4 billion worth of products to the U.S. under AGOA, and I don’t think there’s another country that reaches a billion dollars. So I think it’s really a challenge for the U.S. and for all AGOA beneficiaries to figure out how to take better advantage of the legislation,” Schneidman said over Skype.

“据《非洲增长与机会法》，南非出口到美国的产品价值约40亿, 我认为没有其他国家达到10亿美元这样的数字。所以我认为对美国及《非洲增长与机会法》的受益者而言找出如何更好地利用立法是真正的挑战。”

But while economies of countries like South Africa have grown, other African leaders have said their countries lack the skilled labor 9 and infrastructure 10 to take advantage of it.

虽然南非这样的国家的经济已增长,但其他非洲领导人表示他们的国家缺乏利用《非洲增长与机会法》的熟练劳动力及基础设施。