自2001年加入世贸组织以来，中国为促成双边贸易自由区付出了十年努力，而在接下来的若干年内，中国将在多边自由贸易区的建设问题上取得长足的进步。
九月，在新疆维吾尔自治区的乌鲁木齐市举办的中国-欧亚大陆博览会上，上海经合组织成员国的高级官员和专家们号召，要建立一个大规模的区域性自由贸易区，以在拥有世界四分之一人口的区域内扩大贸易。

请看相关英文报道：

China will make great progress in establishing multilateral free trade areas (FTA) in the next few years, after a decade's efforts to promote bilateral FTAs since the nation entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001.
During the first China-Eurasia Expo held in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in September, high-level officials from member nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and experts called for the establishment of a massive regional FTA to expand trade among one-fourth of the world's population.

【解析】

在上述报道中，"free trade areas"就是“自由贸易区”的意思。它的缩写是FTA。"multilateral"表示“多边的”，"bilateral"则是指“双边的”。于是"multilateral free trade areas"与"bilateral free trade areas"分别指“多边自由贸易区”和“双边自由贸易区”。

例句：

They hope to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas by 2005.
他们希望在2005年的时候建立一个美洲自由贸易区。

What are the practical dividends we seek from our multilateral relationships?
我们想从多边关系中获得什么样的实际利益？

They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.
他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。


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