22/09/2014 Asia Business Report

Conference in Manchester later today. You are up`to`date with our

news headlines, but what about the business? Rico is in Singapore with

all the latest news. G20 finance ministers say they are closing in on

their target for global economic expansion and job creation. And why

China is becoming one of the world's most important markets for diamond

sales. Thank you for joining us. I'm Rico Hizon. Finance ministers from

the 20 largest economies in the world have left a meeting in

Australia knowing they have nearly achieved a target for boosting

economic growth and jobs. Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said they have

achieved their goal of setting targets of boosting GDP by 2018. The

meeting also saw progress on moves to close loopholes allowing

international companies to avoid tax. I asked our correspondent if

these tax reforms will be successful. I would say no. Because

nothing that was agreed at the G20 would change any country's tax

policy. Why not? It is up to individual countries and

legislatures. The G20 is unelected and has no real power. The

established disagreement that by the end of 2018 the member states will

share their tax information so people know who was making what and

where, and where they are claiming deductions. So while they can't stop

countries from making these tax evasions, most of which are legal,

they can at least shame people into paying money where they actually

make their money. Is there really the possibility of merging the

global tax reform system for all the countries to work, or is that all

political talk? It is all talk, it is a pipedream. But what they can

do, which Mr hockey has started to do, is make the information

available so we know who has earned what and where. But you can't merge

tax systems, that is a national issue. How does this tie into

attempts to tax Digital Enterprises? It won't. The UK is going to keep

its patent tax, and we will not tax Digital any different to regular

commerce. So the buck stops here and we won't really see a resolution

during the G20 meeting in November? I don't no `` I don't know where the

buck., but we won't see any change there. European stagnation, lack of

world free trade progress, though Haar has been stuck for a decade,

and the TDP, which started out as a great multinational initiative has

devolved `` TPP. The best hope for getting through is if Republicans

take control of the Senate, thereby pushing it and getting around the

threat of a filibuster. Everyone is saying it has to be done now before

the mid`term elections take place in November. I think the best hope is

after the mid`term elections, because Obama will have an easier

time with a Republican than Democrat Senate. In other business is making

headlines, General Motors has recalled more than 220,000 cars to

correct a brake defect that could increase the risk of fire. It

affects some Cadillac models from 2010 and 2014, and recent versions

of the Chevrolet Impala. They have been no deaths or injuries resulting

from the latest problem, according to General Motors. China says it is

to end its restrictions around housing purchases to boost local

markets. More than 30 cities across the mainland have made similar

initiatives to boost economic growth. In 2011 China put limits on

the number of homes locals could buy in its very hot property markets.

But slow sales this year have left cities overstocked. It is said

diamonds are a girl's best friend, and this is true in China. According

to De Beers, sales of diamond jewellery to mainland consumers grew

by 21% over the last ten years, the fastest`growing market in the world.

The share of polished diamonds sold in China grew from 3% to just over

13% last year, including the cities of Hong Kong and Macau, that rises

further by 2015. Will the markets stay bullish? Our Hong Kong

correspondent put that question to the chief executive of De Beers. The

rate of growth of diamond jewellery is going to still be very strong,

but maybe a little bit wider than what we enjoyed in the last ten

years. I still believe that in the foreseeable future, diamond

jewellery sales will remain around 10% or higher. Maybe not as big as

20%, but 10% is as big a growth as we can enjoy around the world. Ten

years ago China was 3% of the world market, now it is 13% to 15%. So the

base is much higher. 10% growth over a bigger base is equivalent to 20%

in a smaller market. So it is still good growth and we believe greater

China is the engine of growth for the future. Let's talk about prices.

This is a very important question. Given that there is likely to be

less production, over the next ten years, will prices rise? Prices will

fluctuate with the economic environment. But the bumps up and

down are not that big. Over the long`term, diamond prices, they have

always been increasing over the years. If you are looking for an

investment, not over one or two years, but over five or ten years,

diamond prices are increasing. And will keep on increasing. Here in

Asia, China is the main growth driver, but what about other

economies such as India? Do you think they will ever take over as

growth drivers? We have a very solid base with Japan today, and very

strong growth in China. Just behind it India is a good engine for growth

in the next three to four years. Indonesia, Thailand and those

countries could become the next sources of growth. So Asia is a very

big region for us. This week India's mission to Mars reaches a crucial

stage, when scientists attempt to place a spacecraft into the Martian

orbit. The mission has attracted global attention, so what will

success mean to the multimillion`dollar space industry?

Our correspondent has more. India's man on Mars mission was successfully

launched in November last year. And after travelling more than 600

million kilometres, the spacecraft is now on the cusp of entering the

Martian orbit. With the aim of finding signs of life on the red

planet. This is the epicentre of India's Mars mission. For the last

ten months, nearly 200 scientists have been working around the clock

monitoring the spacecraft's movement. And is now they `` and now

they are just days away from discovering if the mission was

successful. But the project director knows expectations are high. He says

he is not worried if everything does not go to plan. We should not be

worried about failure. That is the basic value of our organisation.

When you take up such projects, which are challenging and very

dreamlike, we are living the dream. This is space exploration on a

Budget ` $73 million to be precise ` less than one tenth of what NASA has

spent on its Mars satellite. Critics question whether a country such as

India, where one third of the population lives below the poverty

line, should be spending money on space programmes at all. But a

former head of the space agency of India says missions like these are

essential for a growing economy. Nations can be prosperous, but to be

an economic power you have to be strong in terms of various areas,

where the country has to go beyond survival. So one of the important

aspects of sustaining a high level of growth involves science and

technology. India's ambition is to overtake China and Japan in the

field of space exploration. And whatever the outcome of the mission,

NASA and India's space agency are in talks to work together on further

studies of Mars. Asia is moving lower to start the new trading week

after US equities were little changed on Friday after the strong

debut of Alibaba was offset falling shares in other areas. Hang Sang

getting back a hefty 306 points, and the All Ordinaries down by 47. I'm

Rico Hizon. Thank you for investing your time with us. I'm Adnan Nawaz.

The top stories this hour: A new refugee crisis is unfolding on the

Turkish border, as tens of thousands of Kurds from Syria try to find a

safe haven from I`S militants. Defeating Islamic State ` the former

British Prime Minister Tony Blair says airstrikes alone will not be

enough, and that ground troops may be