世界经济论坛在雅加达举行

Participants at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Indonesia are calling on governments in Asia to lead the world in reducing poverty.

在印尼首都雅加达参与世界经济论坛的各国代表，呼吁亚洲国家的政府领导全世界进行减少贫困的努力。

In the year 2000, 192 countries agreed to support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to eradicate extreme poverty and significantly reduce child mortality rates by 2015.

2000年，有192个国家同意支持联合国千禧年发展目标。这项目标设定于2015年之前，消除世界上极度贫困现象，以及减少儿童的死亡率。

In the years since, many Asian countries have experienced sustained double digit economic growth that has raised the living standards of millions of people.

从那以后，许多亚洲国家都历经二位数字的经济增长，提升了千百万人民的生活水平。

But Rajat Nag, Managing Director General of the Asian Development Bank, joined a panel of economists and leaders at the World Economic Forum in Jakarta who say governments must do more to meet the Millennium Development goals.

但是亚洲开发银行常务总干事拉雅·纳格说，在这次论坛的经济学家及领袖座谈会中说，为了达到联合国千禧年发展目标，各国政府还须要做得更多。

Nag says despite the robust growth, 900 million people still live on $1.25 a day, 450 million people lack access to clean water, and more than 100 million children still die each year during childbirth.

纳格说，尽管有强劲的经济增长，世界上仍有九亿人每天仅靠1.25美元的收入为生。还有四亿五千万人得不到清洁用水。每年还有一亿多婴儿在出生时夭折。

He says governments in Asia must do more to fund basic nutrition programs, provide health care and education. Nag says paying for these programs will mean significantly raising taxes.

他说，亚洲各国政府对基本的营养计划，医疗照顾和教育，提供更多的资助。他说提供这些资助，就必须增加税收。

“In Asia the average taxes collected as a percentage of GDP is likely under 10 percent. In the developed world it is easily 20 percent. So there is a huge amount of public resource mobilization which needs to happen. Not just by raising tax rates but by increasing the tax base, improving the tax collection,” said Nag.

纳格说：“亚洲国家的税率，依国内生产总值计算，似乎还不到百分之10。而在发达国家中，通常都是百分之20。因此在公共资源的调度上，还要开辟很大的来源。这不仅须要调升税率，还要要扩大税收基础，改进税收制度。”Indonesian Vice President Boediono says while significant progress in reducing poverty has been made in his country, he agrees that more programs and increased tax revenues are needed to address the problem.

印尼副总统布迪约诺说，他的国家虽然已经在降低贫困方面获致明显的的进展，他同意增加更多的计划，并且以增加税收的方式，解决贫困问题。

“I belong to the school that the government should play an appropriate role and even in and especially in the social program, should intervene, proactively. And this requires financing and that I think has to be, to come from our own resources,” stated Boediono.

布迪约诺说：“我同意政府在这方面应该担任适当的角色，甚至在社会计划方面，应该采取主动介入的态度。这些做法，需要财务上的配合。我认为这些资金必须来自我们自己的资源。”

American economist and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs says Asian countries experiencing robust economic growth should shoulder the responsibility for poverty reduction with a mix of public and private initiatives. He says the slow economic recovery in the developed world has left Europe looking inward and the United States overly focused on cutting taxes.

美国哥伦比亚大学地球研究所主任，经济学家杰弗里·萨克斯说，亚洲国家历经强劲的经济增长，就该凝聚公共和私有的力量，担负起降低贫困的责任。他说，发达国家中缓慢的经济复苏，已经促使欧洲国家忙于自顾，而美国过度专注于减税问题。

“My own country the United States wants it for free. We're on a constant tax cutting binge. The rich want no taxes," said Sachs. "They say let the market do it but we end up without the social policy. We have lots of poverty. We end up without the environmental policy.”

萨克斯说：“我的国家美国希望不必付出任何代价就能减税。我们处在不断减税的热潮。富有的人希望不用缴税。他们说，让市场来调节这些。而我们最后变得没有社会政策。我们有了很多穷人，我们结果连环保政策也没有了。”

While U.S. income tax rates are still higher than those in Asia, they remain lower than those in European countries. Opponents of higher taxes say they inhibit economic growth from private business that ultimately does more to lift people out of poverty.

虽然美国的税率还是高于亚洲各国，但比起欧洲各国，还是较低。反对增税的人士说，增税妨碍了私有企业的发展，私有企业最终在脱贫方面，能作更多的贡献。

Sachs says Asia's dynamic economic growth in recent years also brings an increased responsibility to meet its pledge to eradicate extreme poverty in the next four years.

萨克斯说，亚洲国家近年来强劲的经济增长，也为了在未来四年达成消除极度贫困目标的承诺，加重了责任。