29/04/2014 Asia Business Report

The teacher was named as Anne Maguire, who was 61 and a

long`serving member of staff. Now on BBC News all the latest business

news live from Singapore. President Obama seals a major

security deal in Asia, but is it too early to pop open the champagne on

trade? A big business, we look at why Singapore has become a key hub

for transactions in China's currency. Hello, and welcome to Asia

Business Report. We start with the US president, he is wrapping up his

four nation trip to Asia today, after signing a ten year military

agreement with the Philippines. Last night, he was feted with a state

dinner in Miller in Manila. He end to boost economic ties and start

what is set to be starting the TPP, or Trans`Pacific Partnership. How

has he fed? I was told that the deal is a lot closer now because of his

visit. The trip has been a success. There is a lot of work left to do

between now and when the agreement goes into force. What is that work?

What underpins the TPP is market access. There is a lot that goes

into making it a 21st`century trade agreement. Including environmental

rights, IP protection, behind the border issues like Customs

facilitation, but that only occurs if there is increased market access.

The biggest obstacle to that for a lot of countries is agriculture in

Japan. What America and Japan did this past week was get a pathway

forward on these difficult agricultural issues, which will make

getting to the next round much better. It is not only about Japan,

we saw medicines in Malaysia being an issue. And the US themselves. He

went on this trip, the president, but failed to get a fast track

approval from Congress to push the TPP, what is the likelihood of it

passing? There are two things to keep in mind, one of these is that

it is 12 party negotiations, there has to be concessions from everyone,

certainly from America as well. And second, once the negotiation reaches

an agreement, then lawyers will have to come in from all 12 parties to

make sure that all details are fitted out. Each of the 12 countries

will have to pass the TPA from their own government. That does not have

to come now, the president did not have to get fast track all TPA prior

to the visit. It will have to come after the elections in America. How

much of this has to do with the Asian pivot? How important is Asia's

economy now for the US elections? For US businesses, Asia is not an

option, it's essential. Trade and business is one of the three key

components to the rebalance of the US towards Asia. Political, US, and

trade and economic. The TPP is a cornerstone of that `` political and

military. The currency of the UN has grown ex` potentially in the past

few years. Processing payments is very big business. According to new

data, Singapore has overtaken London as the second largest clearing

centre behind Hong Kong or yuan. We can speak to a spokesman for the

company who handles those payments. It is a story about China and

Southeast Asia, China has extensive relationships in Southeast Asia, and

the role of Singapore as a harp in the region, particularly a training

hub, is very important ``hub. Singapore has grown 374% in the use

of the Chinese currency in the past few months. That is staggering. We

know that the UK Finance Minister has pitted a whole series of

measures to enable London to a trading hub, what does it take to be

in the top clearance? Singapore does it with infrastructures, so there is

a dedicated clearing bank, that is icy BC, and in the game of payments,

you want convenient and trouble`free payment processors `` ICBC. They

would be between a bank making a payment on behalf of customers to

settle a supply arrangement from China. Infrastructure matters. The

relationship with China as important as well. Singapore and its socio`

and cultural and geographic relationships are buried important

with China. All of these things come together. The market in Singapore is

very organised these days as well, in terms of development of these

services. With the central bank, the monetary authority of Singapore, and

the community work together to develop that market `` the financial

market. How should these countries be competing for this business? How

can you see it growing? It is grown from a small base, the US dollar,

the euro, the British pound, they are big currencies and used widely

around the world. It is growing very fast. It is not only Singapore, but

London is growing at over 200%, and places like Australia and Taiwan are

growing at the same rate. That was Michael Moon. The world 's biggest

maker of smart phones, Samsung Electronics, have reported a 4%

decline in sales at its mobile phone division in the first quarter.

Revenues of the division fell to 32 billion in January to March, from

the previous quarter, the South Korean firm has been hit by slowing

growth in smart phone sales in lucrative markets such as the United

States and Europe. Continuing with Samsung, and its high`stakes court

battle with Apple is to close this week, the worlds biggest smartphone

makers are accusing one another of ripping off designs and features.

The case could cost the South Korean technology firm $2 billion. Whereas

it would only cost Apple 200 million. Panasonic has been

struggling amid intense completion from Apple and Samsung, as well as

falling demand for their gadgets. But, the company has paved the way

for its gradual recovery, and the firm is forecasting further rises.

Shares in the American drug company Pfizer jumped on Wall Street

following an offer to buy the British firm Astrazeneca for close

to $100 billion. The rise made it the biggest gain, Pfizer are working

on their next move, as Astrazeneca rejected their second merger it

which saw their share prices jumped by 12%. Talks are set to continue

with Australian food manufacturer Goodman Fielder, after it rejected a

joint takeover bid for close to $1.2 billion. It was targeted by a

Singapore firm, and a Hong Kong investment business. They said the

company was undervalued, the company make some of Australia's most

recognised food products. Designers and manufacturers are doing some

amazingly creative things with 3`D printing, making jewellery,

furniture, and even industrial components. But one company in China

is taking that technology is a step further by using recycled materials

and they have made ten houses with a 3`D printer and happening to use in

eastern China. Sara Thompson has more.

At first glance, these houses looked like many others in Shanghai. Ten of

them have been put up in a day, without a single brick, tile, and

even a building involved in the construction. `` or even. They are

the first buildings to be made in China with 3`D printing technology.

Giant printers spray a mixture of cement, sand, and other construction

materials to build the walls, one layer at a time. It is like icing a

cake. In a rapidly developing countries with an enormous

population, these houses offer a quick, easy, and relatively cheap

solution. TRANSLATION: We can print the walls in the factory and then

deliver them to the construction site. I will to pile them up with

cranes, like building blocks. They are hollow inside, with columns

printed with Bath steel. `` bar steel. It is very simple to do. The

company says that these buildings are environmentally friendly. They

can be printed to any digital design. The cheap materials and the

lack of manual labour means that each one could be printed for less

than $5,000. The groundbreaking technology still has a long way to

go before mass production. Perhaps, with such a small pricetag, we could

see more of these 3`D buildings, even skyscrapers, in Shanghai,

before very long. A quick look at the markets now, it

is pretty mixed here in Asia. Japan is shut for a public holiday. You

can see a mixed outlook here. The markets appear fairly flat. There

have been some games. Essentially taking their cues from the USA, we

saw most markets higher. Technology stocks were being sold off. That is

it for this edition of the Asia Business Report. Thank you for

watching. In London with the main headlines

this our: ``hour: A BBC team has gained rare access to Syria's

biggest city, Aleppo, where civilians remain under constant and

indiscriminate attack. Amid escalating violence in eastern

Ukraine, the US has blamed Moscow for destabilising the region,

announcing a new round of