2016年CRI Nearly one year on, China and Australia laud fruitful Free Trade Agreement

 

December 20th will mark the one year anniversary since the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, or ChAFTA, took effect. A pre-anniversary ceremony has already been held in Melbourne, with officials from both sides hailing the fruitful results of the deal.

Among them is Cheng Jingye, the Chinese Ambassador to Australia.

"ChAFTA, as we see it, is a comprehensive, high quality free trade agreement of balanced interests for both countries."

China and Australia signed the free trade deal in June 2015, after nearly ten years of negotiation¹. It took effect in December of last year after being ratified² by lawmakers from both sides.

Since then, Australia's health-related exports to China have grown nine-fold. Australian diary and wine exports to China have also surged, making China the largest export market for Australian wines since ChAFTA was launched.

Andrew Robb was Australia's Trade Minister at the time ChAFTA was finalized³.

"What has been achieved with ChAFTA is a great step forward and the world is a much better place because of such agreements."

Robb has also taken time to laud⁴ China for its commitment in opening up trade.

Danielle Di Pilla is one of those in Australia who is gaining direct benefits from ChAFTA. Di Pilla manages a small pharmaceutical⁵ company in Melbourne. It is now pumping out a couple million bars of soap made with goat's milk per month, in order to meet an increasing demand from China.

"The challenge is trying to keep up with the supply. We've doubled our manufacturing. We've doubled everything in trying to keep up with the demand. We wouldn't even know where to start to get your product into China. So I think the cross-border e-commerce platforms like Tmall Global have really allowed small companies like ours to enter China relatively⁶ quickly and for relatively small costs as well."

During the Double-11 online shopping day in China, Di Pilla's company sold a million Australian dollars worth of product. Similarly, Chinese-made industrial and daily-use products have also become more affordable⁷ in Australia under ChAFTA.

Before the trade deal, Chinese investment in Australia was largely limited to the energy and mining sectors⁸. But now under ChAFTA, Chinese investors⁹ are now able to more easily tap into other sectors, including infrastructure¹⁰, healthcare, agriculture, renewable energy and commercial real estate.

1 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

2 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

3 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 laud   

n.颂歌；v.赞美

参考例句：

• Kathy was very pleased to have graduated cum laud in her class.凯西在班上以优等成绩毕业，她为此而非常高兴。
• We laud him a warmhearted man.我们称赞他是个热心人。

5 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

6 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

7 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

8 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。