China, Switzerland make further progress in FTA talks

 　　BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- China and Switzerland have made "great progress" in the fifth round of bilateral¹ talks on a possible Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Ministry² of Commerce said Friday.

　　During the May 8-10 talk, the two countries exchanged views on topics of tax cuts, service trade, rules of origin, sanitary³ and phytosanitary measures, technical trade barriers and intellectual property rights, reaching a series of agreements on the issues, the ministry said.

　　China and Switzerland formally launched bilateral FTA talks in January, with the aim of promoting economic development and closer ties between the two countries.

　　Trade between the two countries totaled 30.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2011, up 54 percent from a year earlier.

　　In the first quarter this year, bilateral trade reached 6.16 billion U.S. dollars, with China's imports from Switzerland hitting 5.38 billion U.S. dollars, mainly from trade of high-tech⁴ products, metal working machines, pharmaceuticals⁵ and watches.

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 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》