第四届欧盟非洲首脑会议在布鲁塞尔拉开序幕

第四届欧盟非洲首脑会议在布鲁塞尔拉开序幕 　　

BRUSSELS, April 2 (Xinhua) - The 4th EU-Africa summit kicked off in Brussels on Wednesday under the theme of "Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace", aiming to promote breadth and scope of cooperation between the two continents.

　　According to the EU Council, Over 40 African and 20 European Heads of State and officials will attend the summit, reflecting the high level commitment to the partnership¹ and determination to deepen it.

　　Addressing the opening of 4th Africa-EU Council,EU Council President Von Rompuy valued the partnership with Africa and expressed EU's wishes to enhance the relation comprehensively.

　　The EU considered Africa as important economic partner,saying in a statement that Africa has experienced impressive economic transformation². Its average GDP grew by 5.2 percent annually³ over the period 2003-2011. In 2012, eight out of the world's 10 fastest growing economies were African.

　　According to the EU,in 2012, the EU accounted for 48 percent of foreign direct investment stocks and 21 percent of global foreign direct investment flows to Africa. African investments in Europe have also made strides over the last 10 years.

　　The EU also emphasized in the statement than Europe remains⁴ Africa's biggest development partner. From 2007 and 2013 EU and its member states disbursed⁵ around 141 billion euros (194 billion U.S. dollars) in a aid to support Africa's development.

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

3 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 disbursed   

v.支出，付出( disburse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• In the 2000—2008 school year, $426.5 million was disbursed to 349085 students. 2000至2008学年，共有349085名学生获发津贴，总额达4.265亿元。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bank has disbursed over $350m for the project. 银行已经为这个项目支付了超过3.5亿美元。 来自辞典例句