16/02/2016 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

The US hosts a meeting of ten south-east Asian leaders. We see

what is on the agenda. And taking to the skies. We find out what is on

offer at the Singapore airshow, where industry and major players

meet. Good morning. Welcome to Asia

Business Report. South-east Asian leaders are gathering in California

for the first ever ASEAN meeting on US soil, and trade is high on the

agenda with the US sharpening its focus on Asia. 2-way trade between

America and this region was worth more than a quarter of a Chilean

dollars last year, so how significant is this ASEAN gathering?

Earlier, I spoke to the executive director of the Asian trade centre

and asked her whether the US would push more ASEAN countries to join

the TPP. There is the grip of four countries currently members of the

TPP, and another smaller group of ASEAN countries that are likely to

join the TPP, and the US is working with them to try to get them ready

to join in the next three -5 years, and then there is a group of ASEAN

countries, especially the less developed countries like Cambodia,

that are not likely to join any time soon. But nonetheless they need

continuing capacity building and assistance. The goal is to keep them

moving in the general direction, without the intention of having them

drawing any reasonable timeframe. China is not part of the TPP or

ASEAN. How important is Southeast Asia to the US, especially when

China is trying to have more power on the world stage? I think ASEAN is

very important to the United States, especially to show USP of it to Asia

is more than just the TPP and more than just a few troops stationed in

Darwin. It shows the United States remains engaged in Asia, and the

more they can show that engagement is economic, political, security,

with lots of countries, the more helpful it is the US to show real

commitment to Asia, and ASEAN has been in the past and can use to be a

friendly place for the United States to make that commitment. In the

past, ASEAN has been accused of having all of these meetings are not

really achieving a lot. Can we expect some kind of achievement from

this summit? I think in this particular instance, the achievement

is to have helped the summit at all, and I think that is the achievement.

There will not be a lot of concrete outcomes. People will point to

programmes, but the real achievement is the fact it was held outside of

ASEAN, and that is really be achievement everyone is looking for.

Anything after that is just an additional fantastic deliverable on

top of the amazing meeting they are likely to have in Sunnylands. All

eyes are also on currencies and markets this morning after China's

Yuan hit its highest point since the beginning of the year with its

biggest one-day move since 2005. It followed the country's said about

fixing the one at a much stronger rate against US dollar, using

worries about devaluation. The markets are just opening and we will

update you surely. Earlier, I asked a strategist what is behind the

latest currency and market moves. We were expecting there would be an

appreciation in the UN after the week-long closure for the Lunar New

Year. We had seen the US dollar 's fall sharply against the yen. Over

that time, the Chinese currency was always likely to rise against the US

dollar because the authorities were trying to stabilise it. With very

weak trade numbers for January, export under pressure, there is not

a very good macro economic policy case for further ongoing gains in

the Yuan. They don't need it in terms of exports, and they don't

need a stronger currency in terms of the inflation outlook, so we do have

doubts it will be sustained. What is your view on the Japanese yen and

the Nikkei, both of which saw a rollercoaster ride last week. Will

this volatility continued in your view? Yes, quite possibly. It really

has been a lot of stress on the yen lately. The big bet in markets over

recent years under Abenomics has been something that means interest

rates may not be increased any time soon. A lot of money taken off the

table there. Volatility is likely, but as the year progresses, we think

the US economy is strong enough to warrant high interest rates, and the

yen is likely to head back to 125 later this year. In other business

news, a Japanese telecoms giant has announced its biggest ever share

buyback. It is aimed at boosting investor confidence after its stock

price fell only 30% since the beginning of this year. It will buy

up to 500 billion yen, or over 4 billion US dollars of its own

shares. And thousands of steelworkers from 15 countries have

marched in Brussels demanding more action from the European Commission

to tackle what they say is unfair competition from China. They accused

Beijing of dumping vast amounts of steel on the global market at below

the cost price. The protesters are worried that a possible change of

Beijing staters at the World Trade Organisation could tie your's ends.

Now Asia's weakest commercial aerospace and defence airshow opens

in Singapore this morning. It is a chance for the industry's major

players together in one of the word's fastest-growing regions, and

Boeing expected to sell almost 4000 planes over the next 20 years in

Southeast Asia alone. What is on offer at this year? Let's hear from

our Asia business correspondence, who is at the airshow. I am right in

the thick of it. You can probably hear the engines revving behind me.

The mood at the airshow really is one of mixed outlook. A bit of

uncertainty about what will be happening in the future over the

next 12-18 months. As we know, the global economic uncertainty is

playing into a lot of those fears. At the same time, we have also heard

passenger numbers in Southeast Asia are doing pretty well, and we are

expecting some announcements from airlines here looking to snap up the

aircraft is on offer. In 2014, is airshow saw deals with some $32

billion, any expectation and hope certainly is they can match that

amount if not exceeded. Along with aircraft makers, there are the

supporting industries around today's playmakers, and the companies that

supply parts to aircraft. Joining me to discuss the outlook for that

particular sector is the president of the aerospace aviation industry

in the Philippines. In 2015 unknown, you are on track, the Philippines

was on track, to see some $1 billion worth of exports in this particular

sector. Tell me how those figures are faring in what are your

expectations this year. While the release of most financials is able,

we do believe $1 billion has been obtained. We are looking at a goal

of about $2.5 billion, so we have created a roadmap and are trying to

address this and make sure we are on target to reach that goal. It is

pretty allowed out here. A reflection of the fact there is so

much aircraft on display. They are trying to sell and get picked up by

airlines in the region. It is a pretty competitive industry in

Southeast Asia. It is hard for an airline to make money here. Right

now, most airlines, profit wise, even our own carriers are enjoying

profits, because the increase in passenger numbers has encouraged

growth even with the Philippines. Nowadays people take airlines

instead of boats, and the cost is not that far from taking a ship.

Within that region also, the removal of the requirements for visas have

seen tremendous both and an influx from other neighbouring countries.

That is despite the global economic uncertainty this year, even though

there are concerns about what will happen in the next 12 -18 months.

Yes, even now more than ever, people are seeing lower costs in fuel

prices meaning lower costs in airfares. So people are taking

advantage, and recently, we have had a lot of days of vacation and a few

long weekends, so people are taking advantage of those. Excellent. Thank

you so much. We will have more from the Singapore airshow throughout the

day on BBC World Let's take a look at the markets.

There are reminded that Wall Street was closed, but Asian shares and now

opens. The Nikkei down slightly and the Yuan has been said slightly

weaker than yesterday. That is it for this edition of Asia Business

Report. Thank you for watching. Syria's president, Bashar Al-Assad,

has cast doubt on whether a ceasefire proposed for

later this week can be implemented. It comes as dozens of people die

in airstrikes on hospitals