VOA双语新闻 US Says Aid to Africa Linked to Concrete Resu（在线收听）

The U.S. House of Representatives is holding hearings ahead of the summit of the seven leading industrialized countries and Russia next week in Scotland hosted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The U.S. government has expressed support for the ideas laid out in the British sponsored Commission for Africa report, but the Bush administration is concerned that U.S. aid to Africa be used effectively.

美国国会众议院在七大发达国家和俄罗斯下星期去苏格兰举行由英国首相布莱尔主持的会议前，目前正在举行听证会。美国政府已经对英国提出的非洲报告所阐述的想法表示赞同。但是布什政府关注的是美国给予非洲的援助是否会有效使用。

When the world's wealthiest nations meet at the G8 summit next week in Gleneagles, Scotland, Africa's development will top the agenda set by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

当世界上最富有的国家下星期在苏格兰的格伦伊格尔举行八强首脑会议时，非洲的经济发展问题将成为英国首相制定的议事日程的首要项目。

U.S. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired a hearing Thursday on the G8 summit and Africa's development, says the notion of the wealthy countries of the world helping Africans escape disease and poverty isn't a new one.

主持星期四关于八强首脑会议及非洲发展听证会的美国众议员克里斯·史密斯说，世界富有国家帮助非洲摆脱疾病和贫困并非新概念。

He said now is the time for the G8 nations to produce concrete results, adding rhetoric alone would not educate a student, heal a patient or provide for an AIDS orphan. "What I hope will happen when the G8 meets next week is approval of proposals on aid and debt relief that are not only encouraging, but which will actually produce tangible benefits for the millions of Africans now living in abject poverty," he said.

他说，如今是八大发达国家拿出具体行动的时候了，他还说，光是纸上谈兵不能教育好一名学生，医治一个病人，或者供养一名艾滋病孤儿。史密斯说：“我盼望八强下星期会议上通过的关于援助和免除债务的提议不仅鼓舞人心，而且还能为目前处于赤贫状态的几百万非洲人带来切实的利益。”

Earlier Thursday, President Bush laid out his own proposals for development in Africa, including a plan to spend $1.2 billion to cut malaria deaths in half by 2010 in Africa. The president also supports total debt relief for 14 of Africa's poorest nations with another 18 under consideration.

星期四早上，布什总统发表发表了他自己的关于非洲发展的提议，其中包括花费12亿美元在2010年前把非洲的疟疾死亡人数减少一半。布什总统也赞同减免14个最贫穷的非洲国家的全部债务，并考虑免除另外18个非洲国家的债务。

Bobby Pittman, deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for international development, finance and debt, testified that along with the debt relief comes an effort to make sure that more foreign development, including aid from multilateral development banks, is given in the form of grants and not loans. "If we look at the history of development assistance for at least the last 40 years there have been a number of lend and forgive cycles. What this has basically meant is that in many of the poorest countries schools were built leaving the payments coming due to the children that were inside the schools," he said.

鲍比·皮特曼是负责国际开发、财务及债务的副助理财政部长，他在听证会上说，在减免债务的同时，还要努力确保外国提供更多的开发资金，包括来自多国银行的援助，这些资金必需是补助金而不是贷款。皮特曼说：“我们如果回顾至少这40年来开发援助的历史的话，就会看许多贷款跟债务减免的循环。在大多数情况下，这种事情意味着，在许多最贫穷国家建造的学校，要由在学校上学的那些孩子来偿还建设贷款。”

The United States moved away from loans in the 1980s, but Mr. Pittman said the banks, such as the World Bank and the African Development Bank, continued to make loans, which left many of the poorest African countries with unsustainable debt burdens. He said the shift to grants would go a long way to breaking this cycle.

美国从20世纪80年代起不再采用贷款的做法。但是皮特曼说，象世界银行和非洲开发银行之类的银行还继续发放贷款，使得许多最贫困的非洲国家背上无法承担的沉重债务。皮特曼说，把贷款改变成补助金会大大有助于打破这种循环。

The United States will also push for more accountability from the aid recipient countries. Paul Reid, senior advisor to the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, said it makes no sense to ramp up aid levels if the serious issue of weak governance isn't addressed. "We will pursue smarter ways to provide more and better aid. But we will do so with the knowledge that more money alone is not the answer, and may well prove to be counter-productive for those nations that lack adequate governance and capacity to effectively utilize that aid," he said.

美国也将会从援助接受国中争取到更多的责任。国务卿下属经济、商务和农业事物办公室高级顾问里德说，如果软弱的政府没有强调严肃的问题，那么升高援助的级别就变的没有意义了。皮特曼说：“我们将以更明智的方式提供更多更好的援助。但我们这样做的时候也明白，光是提供更多资金并不能解决问题。而且，对那些缺乏充足的政府管理和有效使用援助能力的国家来说，更多的资金还可能产生反效果。”

The Bush administration has said the Millennium Challenge Account, which targets U.S. aid to countries that demonstrate their commitment to rule of law and good governance while investing in the health and education of their citizens, is a way to ensure that official development aid yields concrete results.

布什政府曾表示，美国的“世纪挑战帐户”援助方案面向致力于施行法治并改进政府管理的那些国家，并向那些国家的公民卫生和教育事业投资，这是保证官方的开发援助产生切实效果的一种方式。