**中澳签署具有里程碑意义自由贸易协定**
中国和澳大利亚经过大约10年的谈判,签署了一项具有里程碑意义的自由贸易协定。
星期三,澳大利亚总理阿博特和中国商务部长高虎城在堪培拉出席了签署仪式。
阿博特说:“这将使我们两国变得更好,使我们的地区变得更好,也使我们的世界变得更好。”
高虎城赞扬了这项自由贸易协定。他说,这项协定全面、优质、全面。他还表示,在中国迄今与其他经济体签署的自由贸易协定中,中澳自由贸易协定具有最高的自由度。
中国官方的新华社说,按照这项协定,中国对澳大利亚95%的出口商品最终将不再征收关税。
这项内容广泛的协定还将放松对中国在澳大利亚投资的限制,并使澳大利亚银行、保险公司和大学能在中国更方便地运作。
中国是澳大利亚的最大贸易伙伴,每年的双边贸易额超过1230亿美元。
China, Australia Sign Landmark Free Trade Agreement
China and Australia have signed a landmark free trade agreement that follows about a decade of negotiations.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Chinese Trade Minister Gao Hucheng attended the signing ceremony Wednesday in Canberra.
"It will change our countries for the better , it will change our region for the better, it will change our world for the better," said Mr. Abbott.
Trade Minister Gao praised the free trade deal, which was struck late last year, as "comprehensive, high-quality and balanced."
"It has the highest degree of liberalization amongst all the FTA's China has so far signed with another economy," he said.
Under the pact, tariffs eventually will be lifted on 95 percent of Australian exports, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The wide-ranging agreement will also lower restrictions on Chinese investment in Australia and make it easier for Australian banks, insurance companies and universities to do business in China.
China is Australia's biggest trading partner. Two-way trade between the two nations amounts to over $123 billion annually.
**朝鲜面临百年来最严重的旱灾**
据朝鲜国家媒体报道,朝鲜正在经历着一个世纪以来最严重的旱灾,进一步加重了这个贫穷国家的粮食短缺问题。
朝中社星期二说,这次百年来最严重的旱灾正在造成巨大损失。朝中社还说,由于几乎没有降雨,几个主要的产稻省份(包括黄海道和平安道)的稻田都已干裂。
朝鲜曾在上世纪90年代发生一次严重饥荒,导致数十万人死亡。此后,朝鲜经常处于粮食短缺状态,洪水、干旱和管理不当使问题变得更加严重。
联合国说,朝鲜人口的70%,也就是1800万人面临粮食短缺和缺少营养多样性问题。在五岁以下的朝鲜儿童中,27.9的人长期营养不良。
North Korea Drought 'Worst in a Century'
North Korea is suffering through its most severe drought in a century, according to a state media outlet, worsening an already serious food shortage in the impoverished country.
"The worst drought in 100 years continues in the DPRK, causing great damage," said the Korean Central News Agency on Tuesday.
KCNA said paddies have dried up in several key rice-growing provinces, including Hwanghae and Pyongan, because of almost a total lack of rainfall.
North Korea experienced a devastating famine in the early 1990s, leaving hundreds of thousands dead.
It has since has suffered regular chronic food shortages, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.
The United Nations says 70 percent of the population, or 18 million North Koreans, are food insecure and lack nutritional diversity. Malnutrition rates are high, with 27.9 percent of children under five suffering from chronic malnutrition.