VOA慢速英语2014 AS IT IS 2013-12-18 African Union Works to Increase Trade 非洲努力提高贸易额

 

AS IT IS 2013-12-18 African Union Works to Increase Trade 非洲努力提高贸易额

Hello and welcome to As It Is, from VOA Learning English!  I’m Faith Lapidus in Washington. 

On the show today, the United Nations has called on poor countries to re-think their economic policies. 

But first, we hear about efforts to increase trade among member countries of the African Union.  Bob Doughty¹ has our report.

African Union Works to Increase Trade 

The African Union has held countless² meetings and conferences on how to increase trade between African countries.  The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa has organized similar gatherings³.  Yet these efforts have failed to lead to an increase in intra-Africa trade.

Currently, African countries do only 11 percent of their foreign trade with other countries on the continent.  By comparison, Asian countries do 50 percent of their trade with Asian countries. 

This past July, a UN report urged African governments to provide more support to private businesses, reduce trade barriers and expand public services. 

The slow progress makes it difficult for companies to do business in surrounding countries. 

Jittu Horticulture PLC is Ethiopia’s biggest exporter of horticulture products.  The company’s general manager, Jans Prins, says Ethiopia has huge possibilities for trade.  But he says there are too many difficulties when attempting to trade with neighboring countries.

“The major challenge is to reach these markets.  It can either be logistic problems like over-flooded border areas, bad roads or no roads, trade barriers, political issues or security issues.  For Ethiopia, it’s very difficult to reach markets in the surrounding countries.”

Problems getting visas, corruption⁴, and high transportation costs are some of the barriers companies face when they attempt to trade within the continent.  A truck in Africa will travel, on average, just nine kilometers an hour because of the many security or inspection⁵ stations.  As a result, 40 percent of the cost of a product is for transportation.

Intra-Africa trade -- both imports and exports -- totaled $131 billion in 2011. 

African Union countries have agreed to make the continent a free-trade zone by 2017.  Treasure Maphanga is the director of the AU’s Trade and Industry Department.  She says governments must make that goal of a continental⁶ free-trade area a reality.

“I see that in many countries there is a political will that exists at a certain level.  Intra-African trade does not just depend on one ministry⁷.  It does not just depend on the head of state.  It depends on the whole government machinery⁸, and coordinating⁹ towards a specific goal.”

I’m Bob Doughty.

You are listening to As It Is, from VOA Learning English.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

UN Urges New Ideas to Help Least Developed Countries  

A United Nations report says the world’s poorest countries should re-think their economic policies because they are failing to create jobs for their citizens.  The UN Conference on Trade and Development is warning that current policies will not do a lot to reduce poverty because so few jobs are being created.  Our economics reporter, Mario Ritter, has more on the story.

The UN report warns of social unrest and growing numbers of immigrants if the employment situation in these countries does not improve.

Taffere Tesfachew is with the UN Conference on Trade and Development.  He says a new way of thinking is needed.  He says no one questions the need for economic growth.  But that growth needs to create jobs.

“But I think the question is - perhaps there is a way you grow and create employment, and there is a way you grow you do not create employment.  The policies followed by many least developed countries and those especially which did not create employment while there is a need to create employment.”

The World Bank and International Monetary¹⁰ Fund have called for economic stability and liberalization policies for poor and undeveloped countries.  But these policies have failed to create many jobs, even during the period of economic expansion from 2002 to 2008.  During that period, many least developed countries grew each year at rate of eight percent or more.

The United Nations has identified 49 “least developed countries.”  Thirty-four are in Africa.

There are nine others in Asia, five in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean.

Almost all of these countries face rising numbers of men and women entering the labor¹¹ market.  By 2050, the number of young people seeking jobs is expected to rise to 300 million.

Taffere Tesfachew says countries should invest in labor-intensive industries such as manufacturing to create jobs for the millions of unemployed¹².

“We really believe that infrastructural¹³ transformation¹⁴, countries that are moving, jumping from agriculture to services, bypassing manufacturing, I think they will have a problem.  The manufacturing sector¹⁵, the industrial sector, in particularly manufacturing, is I think critical for countries with large population.”

In the UN report, a country was considered a “least developed” when personal income is below $992 on a three-year average.  The report also considered the economic problems each nation faced, and its rating on the Human Assets Index.  The index measures issues like health, nutrition, school enrollment¹⁶ and literacy rates.

 

I’m Mario Ritter.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

3 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

6 continental   

adj.大陆的，大陆性的，欧洲大陆的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• The most ancient parts of the continental crust are 4000 million years old.大陆地壳最古老的部分有40亿年历史。

7 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。

8 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

9 coordinating   

v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的现在分词 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• He abolished the Operations Coordinating Board and the Planning Board. 他废除了行动协调委员会和计划委员会。 来自辞典例句
• He's coordinating the wedding, and then we're not going to invite him? 他是来协调婚礼的，难道我们不去请他？ 来自电影对白

10 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

13 infrastructural   

adj.基础结构的基础设施的

参考例句：

• Must increase the investment dynamics unceasingly, strengthens the countryside infrastructural facilities. 要不断加大投入力度，加强农村基础设施建设。 来自互联网
• In the 1980s, India started with some infrastructural advantages over China. 1980年代，印度在某些基础设施方面优于中国。 来自互联网

14 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。

15 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

16 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。