05/09/2014 Asia Business Report

82`year`old pensioner. He remains under police guard in hospital. The

woman was found dead outside her house in Edmonton. Police used a

stun gun to disarm the suspect. Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore. Nuclear diplomacy ` Australia's

Prime Minister is due to sign a long`awaited uranium deal with

India. Keeping up with the times `

traditional clock and watches are struggling to compete with new,

hi`tech gadgets. `` clock and watch makers.

Thank you for joining us. Australian Prime Minister Tony

Abbott is in India today, looking to strengthen economic ties with the

new leader, Narendra Modi. They are expected to sign a deal that will

allow Australian nuclear fuel exports to India. Australia lifted

its ban on uranium sales two years ago. What will it mean to Australian

companies in the uranium business? This is a great deal for Australia

in the sense that it opens up market access to what will ultimately be a

large market. In the short term, probably not too much. Maybe some

trial shipments. Over the next five, ten, 15 years, as India rolls out

its financial nuclear programme, this will be a good thing for our

industry. Isn't that too long`term? Ten, 15

years before shipping uranium to India?

There will be shipments leading up to that period but the big build`up

will start the next five years. It is our responsibility to get our

production organised and ready for that demand.

How important is India as a market for Australian uranium?

Very important. We already have a bilateral agreement with China. Once

we have a bilateral agreement in place with India, one third of the

world's people... They will be two of the largest growing energy

markets in the world and nuclear energy will be an important

component of that for them. Both of those companies have high

populations and they have air quality issues. Nuclear energy with

zero emissions is a very compelling value proposition in the energy mix.

It sounds like a good scenario for both Australia and India, but what

could be the downside of this deal? I don't see any downside. 400

million people in India have no electricity. They will be looking to

roll out that electricity for the population and we are in the

business of helping them supply the fuel for that.

Staying in India, only one out of every four women work.

That is lower than in other developing countries like Indonesia,

Brazil, Nigeria and Russia. Only a small percentage rise to the top in

companies in sectors with large female workforces in the country...

What is holding Indian women back? We have to redefine the way we score

our brownie points for ourselves. If a man goes out, he goes to work, you

give him a brownie point. He is not tired. He has not gone out with his

friends, you give him a brownie point. He comes home and he says he

does not mind cleaning his own plate and you give him a brownie point.

What happens to women? A woman goes out and she has left her children.

She has a negative point. She comes home late from work and she gets

another negative point. The husband takes his own plate and you get

another negative point. The same set of circumstances but the scoring

system is so different in the minds of most people that the women feel

guilty automatically. The European Central Bank has

surprised investors, unexpectedly cutting the cost of borrowing. Mario

Draghi said that the European Central Bank would lower the key

rate to 0.05% from 0.15%. He has also promised to start buying bonds

and loans next month in order to support the European economy. A

federal judge has ruled that BP acted with gross negligence in

causing the biggest offshore oil spill and

billion in charges. 11 people were killed in the explosion, which

caused oil to spill for almost three months into the Gulf of Mexico.

Singapore moved up from a third`world country status to a

first`world country status in just 25 years. Is that possible anywhere

else? According to BOP model analysts, the road taken by

Singapore is a way of transforming a nation that can also help eradicate

poverty ` running the country in the same way that you would run a

business. I recently asked if any other Asian countries had

similar strategy. If you think about the 1978 visit of

Den Xiaoping from China, he came Singapore and realised that

immigrants from his country were doing so well. He went back to

replicate the Singapore model in coastal cities and look at what

happened with the transformation in those cities. What will this mean,

basically, for economic growth The reality is that poor people

don't have to stay poor. They need jobs to get income and then to get

the better quality of life. To get jobs, you need more entrepreneurship

and business models. What we want to do is train people to have the

capacity to build their own lives, so that one day, the poor earn

enough to pay taxes so the government can give them vital

services. You have mentioned China. Which

other countries in the region have been able to successfully implement

this model? Korea is the same. They got out of

poverty through business. Switzerland 150 years ago was a very

poor country. And then they developed watches and private

banking and eventually became one of the richest countries in the world.

Which other countries in Asia have the potential of being able to

implement and succeed with this model?

All Asian countries are largely entrepreneurial by DNA. If you look

at the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, these are very

hard`working people. They love to do business. What you have to do is

facilitate them and help them to help themselves. You cannot give a

person a fish. You have to teach them to fish, revolutionise the

fishing industry and make sure that everything is connected into an

ecosystem that can produce a big impact.

Mobile phones have made wearing a watch strictly optional. Even though

the times do not seem to suit watchmakers, some have still managed

to prosper. We visited the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair to see how they

are dealing with the changes. I am one of the 4.5 billion people

in the world who own a mobile phone. This device allows me to travel

incredibly light. I no longer have to wear a watch and have not done so

for years. Here at the Hong Kong Watch and Clock Fair, the biggest

industry event in the world, the impact of mobile phones on the watch

industry is being hotly debated. One survey shows nearly three out of

five people in America under the age of 35 use their phone as their main

timepiece. Kenneth Wong used to make basic models for retailers like

Walmart but has stopped doing so. Those were retailing below $10. What

you would find in drugstores or discount stores.

They were not needed any more. People can rely on their phones to

tell the time. For those types of watches, we do not see a market.

That does not mean that digital watches have been wiped out.

He now focuses on fashion conscious designs that sell for $125 each. The

sector as a whole is still growing. Globally, it was worth $48 billion

in 2008 and expanded by 5% over five years. By 2013, it was worth $62

billion and is expected to grow by just under 6%.

This industry veteran says watches that have smartphone capabilities

are one of the most promising new areas.

With the new 2K generation coming into buying power, smartwatch

technology will be a good thing to buy into for the consumer that our

industry can work into and build on. Other companies focus on luxury.

This model by a Chinese maker boasts of skilled craftsmanship and costs

$20,000. To some extent, mobile phones have

indeed replaced watches as tools for telling time. But with an emphasis

on style and technology, some watchmakers have managed to survive

and sometimes even thrive. For more on this and other stories, you can

visit our website. Thank you for joining us. And by for now.

The top stories this hour: Nato leaders have warned the Ukraine

crisis and Islamic extremism pose dramatic new threats to world

security. Ukraine's president has said he

hopes a ceasefire with pro`Russian rebels can be signed on Friday.

After the horsemeat scandal last year, a new report says gangs have

found a