2006年VOA标准英语-OXFAM Says Doha Round Bad Deal For Poor Co

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
26 April 2006

  
  
A new report by the aid group OXFAM calls the Doha Round of trade talks a "Recipe for Disaster."    The report says the chances of a trade deal that helps reduce poverty being done this year are looking increasingly slim.  

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The OXFAM report says the development agenda of the Doha trade round is dying a death by one thousand cuts.  It says the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Pascal Lamy and other key actors in the negotiations¹ have deliberately² lowered expectations.

Executive Director of OXFAM, Jeremy Hobbs, says the proposals on the table fall far short of what developing countries think they were promised and could realistically expect.  Nevertheless, he says OXFAM does not want to see Doha collapse³.

"We certainly do not advocate taking a walk," Hobbs says. "But, what we think is more feasible is that developing countries should hold out for a better deal which means the prolongation of the process.  And, we are saying that that is far from ideal.  There is a lot of risks in what is called a postponed⁴ or slow round and certainly is not what we have been advocating until now.  But, if what is on the table does not improve, unless we get better offers than we think that would be a better option than signing something that could actually be so damaging."

One of the risks in prolonging the Round, Hobbs says, is that it might be harder to get a deal through the United States Congress after the U.S. Trade Promotion⁵ Authority expires in mid-2007.

At the Hong Kong ministerial in December, WTO members agreed to put all new proposals on the table by April 30.  Meetings this week in Geneva failed to nail down agreements.  The members have acknowledged they would miss that deadline and have canceled a planned ministerial.  A new deadline has been set for July. 

Oxfam blames, what it calls, brinkmanship by the European Union and United States for failure to move the talks along.  It accuses the two powerful trading blocks of sidelining development concerns. 

OXFAM says agriculture is the key to unlocking poverty.  Yet, it says offers made so far are not good enough.  Indeed, it adds current proposals would allow both the European Union and United States to actually increase their trade-distorting spending on agriculture.

The Head of OXFAM's Trade Team, Samar Verma says poor countries are getting a raw deal on NAMA or Non-Agricultural Market Access.  He says current proposals on the WTO table would eliminate their ability to raise or lower tariffs⁷ on industrial goods.

"The power of countries to be able to change tariffs, move it up or down at the time that they are needed without any restrictions⁸ from any multi-lateral agreement has been a very significant factor, a very significant tool of economic development for even the contemporary developed countries like the United States," Verma says. "This option of using tariff⁶ as an instrument of development will be significantly curtailed⁹, if not eliminated by what is being discussed at the moment in NAMA negotiations." 

Verma warns poor countries will not be able to increase tariffs to protect their domestic sector¹⁰ from increased imports, including the dumping of subsidized agricultural products from rich countries.  He says this is likely to have a very big impact in terms of job losses and peoples' livelihoods¹¹.  

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

3 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

4 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

5 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

6 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

7 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

8 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

9 curtailed   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。
• Their public health programme had to be severely curtailed. 他们的公共卫生计划不得不大大收缩。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。