2016年CRI Major progress made on FTA ahead of APEC meeting in Peru

 

Wang Shouwen, China's Vice¹ Minister of Commerce, was among those attending the APEC ministerial level meeting.

He says a number of fruitful results have come out of the sessions.

"First, the meeting approved a strategic feasibility report of a Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. The findings and recommendations will be submitted to the APEC leaders for their review and approval this weekend. Second, we laid out a roadmap for the growth of the APEC's service sectors² from now to 2025. Third, we looked at sustaining international supply chains and helping³ developing countries within the APEC to better participate in the global value chains."

The strategic report on the highly-anticipated Free Trade Area among APEC members is being considered the most significant item from the meeting.

An FTA of this magnitude would cover the Asia-Pacific region with 2.8 billion people, 57-percent of the world's GDP and about half of global trade.

Wang Shouwen explains the highlights of the report.

"The report covers a lot of topics, such as the potential economic effects and benefits of such an APEC Free Trade Area. It also looks at some of the potential challenges to such a deal in our current trade and investment systems."

Back in 2014, when the APEC leaders met in Beijing, they agreed to take concrete steps toward greater regional economic integration⁴ by endorsing⁵ a roadmap for the FTA. 

That plan also called for a collective study, along with recommendations, which is due to be given to APEC leaders by the end of this year.

Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen says the new APEC report has laid out concrete steps to ensure the trade environment within the APEC remains⁶ open, inclusive and mutually-beneficial.

"This report has materialized the vision of an APEC Free Trade Area into a major concrete step ahead. It is a very important step that will lead to a very bright future."

The continued path toward regional economic integration within APEC comes amid a perceived rise in global trade protectionism, given both the Brexit and the victory of US President-elect Donald Trump⁷.

Trump has all but quashed the Trans-Pacific Partnership⁸, and has also threatened to withdraw the US from the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

This is likely to be a topic of conversation when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with outgoing US President Barack Obama, likely for the final time, on the sidelines of this weekend's sessions in Lima.

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 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》

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

5 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

6 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。

7 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

8 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。