2007年VOA标准英语-Asian Finance Chiefs Inch Toward Integration Wi

By Kurt Achin
Kyoto, Japan
05 May 2007

Financial officials from the major East Asian countries say they will cooperate on a major new initiative to insure the region against financial crises. The countries have agreed to form a "pool" of foreign currency reserves, which members could potentially draw on in the event of future economic shocks. VOA's Kurt Achin has more from Kyoto, Japan, where the officials are attending the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank.

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Thailand's finance minister, Chalongphob Sussangkarn, center, reads a statement at the beginning of the joint press conference of ASEAN + 3 Finance Ministers Meeting in Kyoto, 5 May 2007

Finance ministers from the so-called "ASEAN plus three" nations announced they would increase the region's ability to help itself out of financial emergencies by pooling some of their vast foreign currency reserves.

The ten members of ASEAN - the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - will be joined in the pooling arrangement by South Korea, China and Japan. They announced the agreement on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank's annual conference, here in Kyoto.

As a region, Asia boasts more than three trillion dollars in foreign currency holdings, mainly garnered² during the last decade of intense growth, from exports to wealthy nations like the United States. China alone holds more than a trillion dollars of reserves.

Thai Finance Minister Chalongphob Sussangkarn says the nations agreed it is time to put those reserves to work.

"There was unanimous agreement on the appropriate form of the mechanism³, which is that is be a self-managed reserve pooling arrangement, governed by a single contractual arrangement," he said.

The most likely use for the funds would be for a country in economic trouble to borrow enough for immediate⁴ needs.

Asian finance ministers say the arrangement is aimed at preventing the type of Asian financial crisis that began ten years ago, when the Thai baht collapsed⁵, and other regional currencies followed. Thailand's finance minister says the risks today are different, but just as serious as they were ten years ago.

"The difference is that at that time, the risk… was on capital outflow, while the risk today is on rapid capital inflow," he said. "The volatility⁶ of capital flow, the size of capital flows, are even bigger than ten years ago."

The Asian Development Bank is expected to have a strong role in deciding how the currency pool is used. The ADB's director for regional integration⁷, Lee Jong-wha, says the pooling announcement is a major step forward for finance ministers, who rarely are unanimous about anything.

"They made some political commitment... It's not a treaty, but it's a binding⁸ commitment," he said.

However, analysts⁹ like Gregory Fager, Asia/Pacific director for the Institute of International Finance, are not impressed.

"Who's going to need these reserves? What do they expect is going to happen? There's really no weak link anymore. They're all running current account surpluses," he said. "I don't see why all the attention is on pooling reserves. I'm not sure what they're pooling them for."

Fager says the ministers should concentrate on making Asia a more unified¹⁰ trading bloc¹¹ - saying trade, not currency swaps¹², is what produces growth.

Details of the pooling arrangement announced have yet to be worked out, including how much each country will contribute to the pool and whether all of ASEAN's 10 member nations will participate.

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 garnered   

v.收集并（通常）贮藏（某物），取得，获得( garner的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Mr. Smith gradually garnered a national reputation as a financial expert. 史密斯先生逐渐赢得全国金融专家的声誉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals. 他的提议得到了广泛的支持。 来自辞典例句

3 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

6 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

7 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

8 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

9 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。

10 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

11 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

12 swaps   

交换( swap的名词复数 )； 交换物，被掉换者

参考例句：

• He swaps his old car for a new motorcycle. 他用旧车换了一辆新摩托车。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• Swaps the anchor and end points of the current selection. 交换当前所选内容的定位点和结束点。