VOA标准英语2009年-APEC Leaders to Focus on Creating Economic

By Daniel Schearf
Singapore
08 November 2009

 
The venue¹ of the APEC summit, in Singapore, 08 Nov 2009
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum² has started annual meetings of leaders in Singapore. The APEC forum will bring together leaders from 21 of the world's largest economies to work toward improving trade and world growth.

The APEC leaders' week started Sunday in Singapore with meetings of senior officials.

They discussed working toward a global economic recovery and making world growth more inclusive.

Michael Tay is Executive Director of this year's APEC Secretariat in Singapore. He says globalization has produced great rewards for APEC economies. But he says the global financial crisis has shown there are also large imbalances to be addressed.

"So, [the] central theme for this year's APEC discussions will be inclusive growth," he said. "How do you draw in the people who have suffered from the crisis? How do you rebalance that divide? And, on a larger level, how do you close the gap between the developing economies of APEC with the developed economies of APEC."

APEC's 21 members include wealthy countries such as Australia, the United States, and Japan as well as developing nations such as the Philippines, and Peru.

Tay says the global economic crisis that started in the United States has brought attention to the Asian economies that are expected to drive world growth.

"APEC has most of the fast growing economies in this part of the world," he said. "We have China of course and Vietnam, Korea and Singapore, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand."

The other APEC members are Brunei, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Russia.

The senior officials meeting Sunday talked about improving trade between their Pacific Rim³ economies by simplifying documentation requirements and procedures.

They also discussed moving toward a free trade area for the Asia Pacific.

The eight days of meetings in Singapore will include meetings of finance, trade, and foreign ministers and end with a summit of APEC leaders, including President Obama-who will make his first trip to Asia as president.

Tay says Mr. Obama's participation⁴ in the APEC meetings is a strong symbol of the United States' commitment to the region.

"There is a perception that President Obama brings with him a sensibility and sensitivity to the region and I think that will stand him in very good stead because there is already a very strong expectation that President Obama will set a new direction for US policy towards its partners, towards APEC, and in particular towards Asia."

On the sidelines of the APEC meetings, Mr. Obama will, for the first time, meet with leaders from all ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Burma.

The United States has recently changed its Burma policy from isolating⁵ the military government to direct engagement in hopes that it will improve its human rights and allow for democracy.

1 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

2 forum   

n.论坛，讨论会

参考例句：

• They're holding a forum on new ways of teaching history.他们正在举行历史教学讨论会。
• The organisation would provide a forum where problems could be discussed.这个组织将提供一个可以讨论问题的平台。

3 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

4 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

5 isolating   

adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析

参考例句：

• Colour filters are not very effective in isolating narrow spectral bands. 一些滤色片不能很有效地分离狭窄的光谱带。 来自辞典例句
• This became known as the streak method for isolating bacteria. 这个方法以后就称为分离细菌的划线法。 来自辞典例句