VLADIVOSTOK The daily ups and downs of U.S. relations with Asia and Russia get a lot of attention.

. But American executives attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit said that receptivity for American products and companies is high in the region. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton predicted Russia's entry last month into the World Trade Organization will be a boost for American companies. "It pays to join the rulesbased trading system," she told APEC delegates. "Russia's trading partners stand to benefit as well. American exports to Russia could double or even triple."After her speech, American executives shared her optimism about Russia and Asia. Scott Price, president of Wal-Mart Asia, said Wal-Mart is the only major retailer opening new stores in Japan. "For 79 percent of Chinese, 72 percent of Indians, 70 percent of Japanese these days - the most important to them is the price," he said. "So If you are bringing in quality products at the best price, you get your customer sentiment, they are not worried about whether your brand is American, French, Chinese or not, they want to be confident in the quality." In Russia, James Turley, chairman of Ernst & Young, the American accounting and advisory firm, just announced he is opening an office in Vladivostok. "Foreign investors in Russia - Americans, Western European countries - feel very positive once they are here and they have invested and they learn how to work in Russia," said Turley, a frequent visitor to Russia. "Those companies that have been here for a long time want to increase their investment not decrease it. Companies that have not yet invested in Russia are still a little bit skittish." Another pioneer in the Russian Far East is Hyatt, which opens two hotels with a total of 450 rooms next year in Vladivostok. Hyatt will be the first international chain to manage hotels in the Russian Far East. "Hyatt in general is looking into expanding throughout Russia and throughout the CIS region," said Aliya Turumbekova, Hyatt's marketing director, at a visit to one construction site. "So we think that this is a very good region with a very good potential. And especially being the first international chain in the Far-Eastern region, we are very proud to manage these two hotels." Caterpillar machinery was crucial in building the Hyatts, the APEC conference center, and a massive new aquarium. Joe Caldwell, who has been renting and selling Caterpillar equipment in the Russian Far East for 16 years, said, "There's Caterpillar equipment, earth-moving, bulldozers, road building compactors, generators at the Aquarium, and all over this island. We rented probably 100 machines, sold them 150 machines." Saturday, while the summiteers were watching fireworks, Emil Veliev, construction director of the APEC site, was backstage, proudly demonstrating his sewage treatment

system and his desalination plant, each built with American technology. "For the future of Russia and [cooperation with] America, for the new products, it really depends on these people who are willing to invest, who actually see the benefits of all these products," Veliev said. Standing nearby at the desalination plant was Michael Ruffner, who came from Florida to Vladivostok to install Aqua-Chem machines that convert salt water into drinking water for 50,000 people. "So what we are seeing is a really wonderful joint cooperation between the two nations, when we work side-by-side for a common goal," Ruffner said. Back at APEC, Ed Verona, president of the U.S.-Russia Business Council, believes shared economic interests will see Moscow and Washington through turbulence expected later this month when the U.S. Congress is to add a human-rights clause to legislation normalizing trade relations with Russia. "We're able to operate on separate tracks," said Verona, who was previously a vice president of ExxonMobil Russia in Moscow. "That we are beginning to build up enough commercial and economic relationship that isn't wholly dependent on the state of our bilateral relationship on the political and geopolitical plane." Despite the Kremlin-White House political roller coaster, economic interests shared by Russia and the United States may provide a long-term anchor for the two nations. A United Nations report says world food prices stayed the same in August. Prices were unchanged after rising sharply in July. A summer of drought in the United States and Russia has reduced expectations for corn and wheat supplies. As a result, a measure of food prices by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization rose six percent in July. But FAO economist Concepcion Calpe says the expected reductions did not get any worse in August. CONCEPCION CALPE: "We're not in a bad situation, or as bad situation as we were last month because the prospects are not worsening further. And this is already good news." Ms. Calpe says the FAO price index remains about ten percent below its highest level, reached in February twenty-eleven. But prices are still twice as high as they were ten years ago.Demand remains high for food commodities like maize and wheat. The U.N. estimates that more cereal crops will be consumed this year than will be produced. That means markets will have to use some of the supplies that have been kept in reserve. Concepcion Calpe says those reserves have been low for several years. CONCEPCION CALPE: "And therefore we are very much susceptible to very quick changes because there is very little buffer on which to rely to protect ourselves should there be another bad news on the production front." She says there will be ups and downs in prices until production meets the level of demand.

Still, many experts do not expect a repeat of the crisis of two thousand seven and two thousand eight. Prices jumped, playing a part in civil unrest in several countries. For one thing, these experts point out that energy prices are lower now. That means producing and transporting food is not as costly. And Gary Ellerts at the United States Agency for International Development says this year's bad weather has not affected another important crop: rice. Mr. Eilerts is head of the agency's Famine Early Warning System. GARY EILERTS: "Rice is very calm, very nice. Prices are not volatile. There's a large supply. And so, countries that depend on that, that were hurt a great deal in two thousand eight, are not being touched right now." However, economist Lourdes Adriano at the Asian Development Bank says prices could increase if India stops exporting rice because of a drought. LOURDES ADRIANO: "If we have a severe monsoon in India and it starts banning again the export of rice, then we will have a major problem. Because as you know, global rice trade is very thin. There are very, very few major exporters."Prices jumped when India banned rice exports in two thousand eight during the food inflation crisis. MIGRATION Exercise 1. Focus on attention Consider the following exercise snow ball. Each student shall continue the idea of the previous colleague. Starting sentence My parents went abroad Exercise 3. Text reading Read the text aloud, after the teacher, with a delay of 3-4 words. People move. Around the world, 175 million people live in countries where they werent born. More people move to the United States than any other country. About 31 million people in the U.S. were born as citizens of another country. Nearly five million Mexicans have moved to the U.S. since 1950. More Mexicans move to the U.S. than anyone else. The population of Europe is shrinking. The continent will likely have 100 million fewer people by 2050. More people migrate from Asia than anywhere else. Many people move because of wars in the area. So, these days, the leaders of successful states realize that it is not only important to attract foreign-born workers, but also to retain them, because migrant populations are an asset to any city. Nowadays, it is an accepted fact that important cities need to attract workers from all over the world if they want to compete in the global economy. Many cities that appear at the top of league tables for economic performance also top the league tables for foreign born residents: London, New York, Amsterdam, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Sydney, Frankfurt, and Brussels. Cities all over the world are getting bigger and bigger. Urban areas gain approximately 60 million people a year. In 2008, 50% of the worlds population lived in cities. By 2050, two thirds of the worlds population will be living in urban areas. This growth in population in cities has two

sources: firstly, migration from the countryside or small towns to bigger urban areas and secondly, migration from other countries directly to big cities. In Europe, much of the recent population growth in big cities is due to the arrival of migrant workers from outside Europe. Large cities attract more foreign-born migrants, small cities attract local migrants. It is also the case that successful cities attract more migrant workers than less successful cities. Migrants are naturally attracted to cities with most job opportunities. Successful cities always have a higher migrant population than less successful cities. This is because they can attract the skills, investment and human resources needed to compete in the global economy. Exercise 4. Work on text answer the following questions. a) Definii termenul de migraie b) Migraia este un fenomen specific doar pentru secolul 21? c) Care sunt aspectele negative i pozitive ale migraiei? d) Care este ara care atrage cel mai mare numr de emigrani?

Exercise 6. Shortening Compress the information from the text. Summarize the text in one sentence. Exercise 7. Note-taking Select key-words. Suggest symbols for these words. Exercise 8. Vocabulary enhancement Give equivalents to the following phrases/words Resurse umane_______________________________________________________________ Zone urbane_________________________________________________________________ Creterea populaiei___________________________________________________________ Muncitori din lumea ntreag____________________________________________________ Ceteni ai altor ri____________________________________________________________ Dou surse___________________________________________________________________ Orae mici___________________________________________________________________ Populaia globa________________________________________________________________

Atragerea investiiilor___________________________________________________________ Exercise 9. Vocabulary Suggest synonyms for the underlined words in the text. Exercise 10. Developing translation competences Interpret consecutively the following word combinations. orae mari; foreign-born workers; economie global; successful cities; resurse umane; local migrants; urban areas; atragerea competenelor; foreign born residents; oamenii circul. Exercise 11.Vocabulary Match the adjectives from (a) with the nouns from (b). a) human; massive; economic; general; cultural; ongoing; annual; illegal; policy b) process; values; development; history; globalisation; migration; diversity; Exercise 12. Grammar wrap-up Translate the sentences into Romanian. Pay attention to the use of infinitive. 1. Youth centres are to be established for young immigrants. 2. States can appeal to a universal doctrine of nationalism to legitimate their claims to cultural diversity. 3. Nearly 200 localities in the United States have seriously considered policies intended to restrict immigration or its impact. 4. Indian immigrants in the United States may not want their US-born children to live and work in India, but some members of the second generation are 'returning' to their parents' homeland. 5. This new publication, to be published on 29 November 2010, explores migrants entrepreneurial activity and employment creation and the challenges they face in their host countries. 6. Possible policy responses stressing the importance of improved international cooperation to address the global health workforce crisis are presented along with new updated data up to 2008. 7. The economic crisis is likely to cause the first major fall in the number of migrants coming to work in OECD countries since the 1980s, according to a new OECD report. 8. Although data on migration flows for Romania are difficult to obtain, there are several indications that this was associated with significant increases in migration movements, which continue to be strongly dominated by emigration. 9. The citizens shall come to the office for migration. 10. The worker insisted to have been working in an Italian factory.

Grammar revision

Translation

Dac Islanda devine stat membru, UE va rectiga una din cele mai vechi democraii ale continentului, o ar cu o economie de pia ce funcioneaz bine. Dac factorul politic nu ar fi intervenit, exporturile ctre Rusia nu ar fi fost afectate. Dac preurile la cltoriile cu avionul s-ar reduce, numrul de cltori ar crete considerabil. Dac Rusia nu ar fi impus embargo pe produsele vinicole din Moldova n 2006, nu ar fi dat faliment aa de multe companii din acest domeniu. Moldova va putea s adere la Uniunea European, dac va continua implementarea reformelor i va ndeplini toate condiiile necesare. Dac ara noastr nu ar fi fost afectat de criz, un numr mai mic de conceteni ar fi prsit ara n cutarea unui loc de munc. Mai puine familii ar fi cerut ajutor material dac preurile nu ar fi crescut atit de mult. Dac ara noastr ar fi avut suficiente resurse proprii, o economie dezvoltat i un sistem bancar eficient, ea nu ar fi avut nevoie de ajutor din partea donatorilor strini. Dac criza politic actual nu va fi soluionat, exist riscul agravrii acesteia cu consecine grave pentru economia rii. Noi avem nevoie de stabilitate politic, dac dorim s avem o ar prosper.