2014年CRI 乌代总统称克里米亚公投违法 商务部长对外贸增7.5%有信心（在线收听）

Ukrainian leader vetoes Crimea' s referendum on joining Russia

Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Alexandr Turchynov has signed a decree, vetoing the Crimean parliament's decision to hold referendum on joining Russia.

The decree says Under the Constitution of Ukraine as well as the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, any regional referendum is illegal.

It says the issue could be settled solely by the nationwide referendum, approved by the country' s parliament.

On Thursday, the parliament of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea voted to become part of Russia.

The parliament session has also set referendum on March 16th, which would ask whether the Crimeaian people would like to remain part of Ukrain or join Russia.

This is CRI News.

China's commerce minister has expressed confidence of achieving the 7.5-percent growth target in foreign trade this year, citing an improving global economy and competitiveness among domestic enterprises.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing legislative session, Gao Hucheng said although the economy of emerging markets is slowing down, the fundamentals are sound enough to tackle the existing difficulties.

China's foreign trade surpassed 4 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time in 2013, up 7.6 percent over 2012.

Meanwhile, Gao Hucheng notes that Chinese authorities are studying the idea of relaxing bans on foreign capital in some 10 service and manufacturing industries, including finance, education, accounting, auditing, logistics and electronic commerce.