This year, the escalating crisis in the Middle East largely squeezed out the subjects on which the attendees were hoping to reach agreement.

今年，中东地区的危机不断深化，圣彼得堡的参会者们不得不将本打算达成协议的议题往后推。

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The Middle East and North Africa region was less sharply impacted by the crisis than other regions, with overall GDP growth slowing to 2.9 percent in 2009.

中东和北非地区与其他地区相比，遭受金融危机的冲击相对较小，该地区2009年整体GDP增长放慢至2.9%。

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South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa have escaped the worst effects of the crisis, while Sub-Saharan Africa has been hard hit, with the outlook for the region remaining uncertain.

南亚和中东北非地区幸免于危机最严重的影响，而撒哈拉以南非洲地区遭受重创，该地区的发展前景仍不明朗。

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A senior Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group in Jerusalem,Rob Blecher, says frustration over continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the general lack of progress toward achieving a Palestinian state,has prompted the Palestinian leadership to look for new strategies.

VOA: standard.2010.05.03

As a part of that plan, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is crafting a speech that "will clarify its (the U.S.) views on an end result" to the Middle East crisis and the eventual "creation of a Palestinian state, " officials said.

CNN: Arab leaders welcome U.S. Mideast moves

The hardest blow to the euro, though, was delivered by the ECB's own president, Wim Duisenberg, when he appeared to suggest in an interview that there would be no intervention to save the euro should the currency be hit by the Middle East crisis.

BBC: Euro drops below $0.83 record low

We also asked for the political support of the United States to take a political position to support Lebanon and to support a peaceful solution for the Middle East crisis -- that cannot be done at the detriment of Lebanon -- and to reject settlements.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama Meets with Lebanese President Sleiman