119 巴基斯坦希望首脑会议能打破与印度的贸易僵局

119 巴基斯坦希望首脑会议能打破与印度的贸易僵局

Pakistan Businesses Hope India Summit Can Break Trade Logjam
Jon Tkach
Islamabad
7 Jul 2001 03:13 UTC

India and Pakistan represent huge potential markets for each other, but 1)hostilities over the 2)critical issue of Kashmir have long kept trade between the countries to a trickle¹. With next week's summit approaching, Pakistan's struggling business community is hoping the meeting will open the door for more trade with its massive neighbor. But analysts³ say the central problem of Kashmir still threatens to hold up discussions on trade as well as other sticky issues.
India and Pakistan have a common border, nearly 3000 kilometers long.
But most of that is shut to trade, a closure sealed by two full-blown wars and 50 years of 3)enmity over the 4)mountainous region of Kashmir, which both countries 5)claim.
Only $200 million worth of goods 6)squeeze through 7)legally. Trade is restricted by a Pakistani list that names only 600 items cleared for import from India. Waqar Ahmed, is a coordinator⁴ in Islamabad for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, a free trade group. He says you only need to look at the amount of unofficial commerce, goods that get 8)smuggled or 9)routed through third countries, to understand how the trade barriers are hurting both countries. "The total trade is $1.5 billion on both sides. So you can easily imagine the amount which we are losing from the 10)tariffs,"he said.
He says trade between the two countries has the potential of hitting $5 billion per year.
But because of their longstanding hostility⁵, he says, business people are forced to look elsewhere for goods they could get much cheaper right across the border. "Pakistan is importing machinery⁶ for cotton 11)textile manufacturing from Taiwan, and even from the European Union, which is almost twice the price of Indian machinery,"he said.
He stresses that Pakistan suffers the most from the trade 12)barriers, particularly now as its military government struggles to jump start the ailing⁷ economy, which has been ravaged⁸ by years of mismanagement and corruption⁹.
But even though India granted Pakistan most favored nation 13)status in 1995, and has been pushing Pakistan to return the favor, Pakistan has held firm on restricting trade. Islamabad continues to insist the two sides first talk about the status of Kashmir, an issue India has, for the most part, been 14)unwilling to discuss.
In recent weeks, the rivals have made small 15)goodwill gestures and repeatedly voiced 16)optimism about the July 14 summit.
But Pakistan's military leader General Pervez Musharraf has also criticized India for "putting the cart before the horse"by wanting to raise trade and other issues before tackling Kashmir.
It is a theme that is popular among many Pakistanis, even for those who clearly 17)stand to gain from increased trade with India. Ejaz Ahmet runs a drug store in Islamabad. "In our eyes the foremost is the problem of Kashmir. Once it is solved, everything will be solved,"he said.
But writer and political analyst² Talat Masood says there is a danger in pushing that theme too far, especially because, he says, it is not reasonable to expect one summit meeting to solve the 18)thorny issue of Kashmir. "They should attack the problem of Kashmir, but also go around it,"he said. "It should be a parallel 19)strategy and not one totally focused on Kashmir because that would also become 20)counterproductive."
He says Pakistan will certainly need to see some give from India on Kashmir in order to move ahead on other issues, especially trade.
But he adds an agreement to hold further talks on the status of Kashmir should be enough, for now, to allow Pakistan's leaders to get the ball rolling in other areas.

(1) hostility[hR5stIlItI]n.敌意, 恶意, 不友善, 敌对
(2) critical[5krItIk(E)l]adj.批评的, 危急的, 临界的
(3) enmity[5enmItI]n.敌意, 憎恨
(4) mountainous[5maJntInEs]adj.多山的, 山一般的, 巨大的
(5) claim[kleIm]n.(根据权利提出)要求, 要求权vt.(根据权利)要求, 认领, 声称
(6) squeeze through v.挤过, 勉强通过
(7) legally adv.法律上, 合法地
(8) smuggle[5smQ^(E)l]n.走私, 偷带v.走私
(9) route[ru:t]n.路线, 路程, 通道v.发送
(10) tariff[5tArIf]n.关税, 关税表, 税则vt.课以关税
(11) textile[5tekstaIl]n.纺织品adj.纺织的
(12) barrier[5bArIE(r)]n.(阻碍通道的)障碍物, 栅栏, 屏障
(13) status[5steItEs]n.身份, 地位, 情形, 状况
(14) unwilling[Qn5wIlIN]adj.不愿意的, 勉强的
(15) goodwill[^Jd5wIl]n.善意, 亲切
(16) optimism[5RptImIz(E)m]n.乐观, 乐观主义
(17) stand to gain v.一定获利
(18) thorny[5WC:nI]adj.多刺的, 痛苦的
(19) strategy[5strAtIdVI]n.策略, 军略
(20) counterproductive adj.反生产的, 使达不到预期目标的

 

1 trickle   

vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散

参考例句：

• The stream has thinned down to a mere trickle.这条小河变成细流了。
• The flood of cars has now slowed to a trickle.汹涌的车流现在已经变得稀稀拉拉。

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

5 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

6 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。

7 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

8 ravaged   

毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫

参考例句：

• a country ravaged by civil war 遭受内战重创的国家
• The whole area was ravaged by forest fires. 森林火灾使整个地区荒废了。

9 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。