VOA常速英语:Harnessing the Mineral Wealth of Poor Countries

Developing countries with potential mineral riches have often fallen prey to corruption and mismanagement. As a result, they’ve failed to benefit from their natural resources and remained in poverty. Now, new guidelines have been drawn up to help such countries harness their mineral wealth.
具有潜在矿产财富的发展中国家经常因腐败和管理不善而堕落。结果这些国家没有受益于他们的自然资源,仍然处于贫困当中。现在,一项用于帮助这些国家利用其丰富矿产资源的新指导方针已经制定出来。

The World Economic Forum and The Boston Consulting Group have identified six steps to help poor countries cash in on their mineral deposits. The recommendations are based on the advice of 400 experts from NGOs, governments and mining companies.
世界经济论坛,波士顿咨询集团已经确认了六个步骤用于帮助贫穷国家利用其丰富矿藏。该建议由非政府组织、政府和矿业公司的400多名专家提出。

Learning from the past
吸取过去的教训

“Historically, there have been so many cases where countries, who have lots of minerals, have systematically not developed those correctly. They haven’t done them in a socially or economically, what we call, responsible manner,” said Alex Wong, World Economic Forum’s senior director.
世界经济论坛高级理事亚历克斯•王说道:“历史上,有很多情况下,有许多国家具有丰富的矿藏,但却没有系统的正确开发。他们没能像我们所称的本着对社会或经济负责的态度。”

He said the “six steps” or “building blocks” can help prevent history from repeating itself.
他说,这“六个步骤”或“搭建屏障”可以帮助预防历史重演。

“What’s happening now with the commodity price cycle that we’re in and the emergence of several countries onto the global stage - such as Mongolia, Guinea, Peru – these are countries who are now, for the first time in a way, having the opportunity to develop their mineral resources and using it as a major way for their countries to grow economically. So, it’s actually an incredible moment where we don’t want to make the same mistakes that have been made in the past,” he said.
“我们现在在商品价格循环正在做的是使几个国家,如蒙古、几内亚、秘鲁出现在全球舞台。这些国家是第一次在某种程度上有机会发展自己的矿产资源并且利用它作为自己国家经济增长的一种主要方式。所以这实际上是一个令人难以置信的时刻,我们不想再犯过去同样的错误。”他说道。

Poor, yet mineral rich, countries face a number of challenges in developing their extraction industries. These include not having the expertise, skills or resources at hand to develop the industries. Another issue may be a failure to get local communities and civil society involved in the process. And often the negotiating process has not been transparent.
虽然贫穷,但却矿藏丰富,这些国家在发展提取业上面临着一系列挑战。包括没有专业知识、技能及开发此此行业的资源。另一个问题可能是一个没有得到当地社区和公民社会参与的过程。而且谈判进程往往不透明。

“So, people actually don’t understand what are the terms of the agreement. They have, therefore, mismatched expectations and lack of communication, which then obviously causes lots of tension and misunderstanding,” said Wong.
“而且,人们其实并不了解协议的条款。他们也许,因此不期望和缺乏沟通,然后显然造成很多紧张和误解,“王说道。

Doing what’s right
做正确的事情

Wong said the recommendations help create a climate of trust, which can lead to all the stakeholders benefiting from the mineral wealth.
王表示该建议帮助创造一种信任的氛围,从而使各利益相关者从丰富的矿产中受益。

“First of all, promoting capacity building and knowledge sharing. And that includes making sure everybody understands how to do it. How to develop these mineral resources in a responsible manner. Making sure people understand the costs and benefits associated. The second category of actions is around collaborative processes, processes both at the national level and at the local level. So that you have mechanisms and processes for people to be included in the discussions and have a feeling that they’re part of the negotiations and the outcomes,” he said.
“首先,促进能力建设和知识共享。包括确保每个人都懂得如何去做。如何以负责任的态度开发这些矿产资源。确保人们理解相关的成本和利润。第二种行为是协作过程、过程要以国家层面和当地的水平为基准。所以,将引入机制和过程纳入讨论范围,让人们有一种感觉,自己是谈判的一部分,并且他们所做的会为自己带来结果。”他说道。

The final category of recommendations concerns transparency and dispute resolution.
最后的建议是关注透明度和争议解决。

Wong cautioned there is not an immediate return on investment for mineral rich countries, as there may be for oil-rich nations.
王警告称,投资在矿产丰富的国家的回报不会马上见效,有可能盛产石油的国家也是这样。

In for the long-term
建立长远发展目标

“In mineral development, in particular, it’s especially challenging because governments don’t actually often get their revenue that comes from the process of extracting their minerals until a good 10 to 15 years later in some cases. And whereas oil is probably a little more immediate because you get stuff under the ground, you ship it out and the government’s seeing revenues,” he said.
“尤其是在矿产开发中,它特别具有挑战性。因为在某些情况下,政府实际上并没有从来自提取矿物质的过程中得到收益,而是经常直到10至15年后才能有所回报。而石油可能更为直接,因为你得到地下的东西,你运出,之后政府看到收入,”他说道。

Wong said there’s been a good initial response to the Framework for Advancing Responsible Mineral Development. It highlights 22 successful projects in such countries as Mongolia, Liberia, Ghana and Chile. He says a second initiative promoting responsible mineral extraction is the World Bank-led Extractives for Development initiative, or E4D.
王表示,矿产责任开发框架最初很好的推动了这些发展中国家。它让蒙古、利比里亚、加纳和智利等国家的22个项目开始实施。他表示另一个推动责任提取矿物的是世界银行领先提取或E4D。