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　　The International Monetary¹ Fund, with the concurrence² of the United States, has agreed lend Belarus $2.5 billion to help it deal with effects of the global economic crisis. The IMF decision Wednesday reflects a thaw³ in relations between the authoritarian⁴ government in Minsk and the United States and the rest of Europe.
国际货币基金组织和美国一致同意向白俄罗斯提供25亿美元的贷款，帮助白俄罗斯应对全球经济危机所带来的影响。国际货币基金组织星期三做出的这项决定反映出白俄罗斯专制政府和美国以及欧洲其他国家关系的解冻。
Belarus has joined several other European countries, including Iceland and Hungary, in gaining IMF credit lines to help it weather the financial crisis, which has caused the central European country's exports and currency reserves to wither⁵ in recent months.
国际金融危机造成白俄罗斯的出口和外汇储备近几个月不断下降，而国际货币基金组织的贷款将帮助白俄罗斯渡过这场危机。此前，包括冰岛和匈牙利在内的其他一些欧洲国家也得到了国际货币基金组织的贷款。
The managing-director of the Washington-based IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France, announced the 15-month stand-by credit arrangement Wednesday. The IMF governing board must still approve the offer, but that is considered pro-forma.
总部设在华盛顿的国际货币基金组织总裁、法国人多米尼克.斯特劳斯-卡恩星期三宣布了这笔为期15个月的备用贷款安排。这项贷款仍然需要得到国际货币基金组织理事会形式上的批准。
Belarus, which recently obtained a two-billion-dollar loan from neighboring Russia, sought the IMF credit line in October as its monetary reserves dwindled⁶ along with income from key exports such as potash and refined oil products.
随着白俄罗斯货币储备的下降以及钾肥和炼油产品收入的减少，白俄罗斯去年10月向国际货币基金组织提出贷款请求。白俄罗斯最近从邻国俄罗斯得到了20亿美元的贷款。
The IMF agreement marks a further easing of the international isolation⁷ of the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
国际货币基金组织的这项决定标志着国际社会正在进一步改变孤立卢卡申科总统领导的白俄罗斯政府的作法。
The former Soviet⁸ official has ruled the country with an authoritarian hand since 1994, but has recently made a number of conciliatory gestures to the West including the release of the last three government detainees considered political prisoners.
1994年以来，曾经担任过苏联政府官员的卢卡申科一直用铁腕方式统治着白俄罗斯。但是最近，卢卡申科向西方做出一系列和解姿态，其中包括释放最后3名政治犯。
Asked about the IMF decision, State Department Acting⁹ Spokesman Gordon Duguid said U.S. efforts to engage with the Minsk government have produced at least some limited gains.
当记者询问美国国务院代理发言人戈登.杜吉德对国际货币基金组织这项决定的反应时，杜吉德表示，美国同明斯克政府进行接触的政策至少产生了一些成果。
'The Belarusians have a long way to go, particularly on their human rights record. However, the engagement that we've started with the Belarusians has produced some results," he said. "This is not to say we'll stop reminding them that their human rights record needs much improvement, that their process for starting a more representative form of government needs to be much improved. But we're doing that through engagement."
“白俄罗斯人仍然有很长一段路要走，特别是在人权记录方面。然而，我们开始和白俄罗斯人进行接触已经产生了一些结果。这并不是说我们将不再提醒他们他们的人权记录仍然需要改善，他们建立一个更有代表性的政府的过程仍然需要加强。我们正在通过接触做这些工作。”
The Bush administration welcomed the release last August of the remaining Belarusian political prisoners including opposition¹⁰ figure Alexander Kozulin, and opened a high-level dialogue with the Minsk government.
布什政府欢迎白俄罗斯政府去年8月释放包括反对派人士亚历山大.科祖林在内的最后几名政治犯，并同明斯克政府开始举行高级别对话。
However, it joined European allies in expressing disappointment over the conduct of parliamentary elections in Belarus in September that did not yield a single seat for opposition candidates and which the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, said fell short of international standards.
然而，美国和欧洲盟国却对白俄罗斯去年9月进行的议会选举表示失望。在那次选举中，反对派候选人没有得到任何议会席位。欧洲安全和合作组织认为，那次选举没有达到国际标准。
Spokesman Duguid said another problem issue in the bilateral¹¹ relationship is the case of Emanuel Zeltzer, a Russian-born U.S. citizen convicted of industrial espionage¹² in Belarus in August and given a three-year prison term.
He said the United States has no way to assess the fairness of the case against Zeltser because his trial was closed. The United States continues to call for his release on humanitarian¹³ grounds because of reports he is failing health.