:00:00. > :00:00.Shepperton in Surrey. Now on BBC News - all the latest
:00:07. > :00:22.business news live from Singapore. Putting on a show. The region's
:00:23. > :00:23.biggest aviation event kicks off in Singapore.
:00:24. > :00:26.Doing business in India, the competition is heating up as more
:00:27. > :00:31.and more foreign firms enter the market.
:00:32. > :00:43.Thanks for joining us. We start off with the biggest aviation event, the
:00:44. > :00:47.Singapore Airshow, which begins on Tuesday. Aviation leaders around the
:00:48. > :00:51.globe have come to see this, hoping to do some major deals. More than a
:00:52. > :00:57.thousand companies from 20 nations will be here. The previous airshow
:00:58. > :01:02.in 2012, deals worth $31 billion were announced. One country with a
:01:03. > :01:06.strong presence is the US. It is the feature country this year. We spoke
:01:07. > :01:12.with the American ambassador to Singapore. We asked how important
:01:13. > :01:18.the air show is the US. It is crucial. We all know that Asia over
:01:19. > :01:26.the next 20 years is going to do more business with the rest of the
:01:27. > :01:29.world combined. We have 163 companies here which represent the
:01:30. > :01:36.largest companies to the small companies, commercial services. If
:01:37. > :01:42.there is a need in aerospace, we have a country to fill the bracket.
:01:43. > :01:49.Asia is a big pie right now where everybody wants to invest. In which
:01:50. > :01:55.countries and in which institutions? The beauty about the aerospace
:01:56. > :02:01.industry because it is so mobile by definition means that you can do a
:02:02. > :02:07.little here and there. This airshow allows us to talk to all the same
:02:08. > :02:13.people at the right time. And get deal done, as you say. Deals not
:02:14. > :02:20.only on the commercial side but also the military. How does this fit into
:02:21. > :02:25.the overall Asia policy of President Obama. We are seeing a real-life
:02:26. > :02:32.manifestation of rebalance and since before I got here. This is when we
:02:33. > :02:38.can show the world that we have over ten Admiral 's and generals with
:02:39. > :02:43.four stars above coming here, standing side by side with CEOs and
:02:44. > :02:49.regional leaders. They are working hand in glove. -- admirals. We can
:02:50. > :02:54.see economic potential in this part of the world but also frontier
:02:55. > :03:01.markets. There are challenges. We have poor safety record for some
:03:02. > :03:05.airlines, automation issues at some airports. Safety is a big concern
:03:06. > :03:09.for commercial airlines like Boeing. It must be the primary concern,
:03:10. > :03:14.safety. One thing we see from every country in the region is that they
:03:15. > :03:18.are working to improve. We want to be involved to help with that. To
:03:19. > :03:22.your point, we have the FA administrator here for the airshow,
:03:23. > :03:26.talking about some of the things that are going on in civil aviation.
:03:27. > :03:30.We just want to be part of the conversation. The companies want to
:03:31. > :03:37.be part of the solution. The US ambassador to Singapore.
:03:38. > :03:39.In relation to the airshow which begins tomorrow, Indonesian defence
:03:40. > :03:45.officials have pulled out amid a disagreement over the naming of an
:03:46. > :03:48.Indonesian warship. The spat between Singapore and Jakarta is over the
:03:49. > :03:54.decision to name a big frigate after two Marines executed for their
:03:55. > :03:58.involvement in a fatal bombing in an incident in Singapore in the 1960s.
:03:59. > :04:02.Get more information on the Singapore air fought -- airshow from
:04:03. > :04:08.the website including defence spending in Asia.
:04:09. > :04:09.Companies are facing pressure from international rivals as the
:04:10. > :04:15.government encourages more investment by foreign firms. Sectors
:04:16. > :04:18.like retail and aviation are opening up to overseas companies but doing
:04:19. > :04:23.business in India is difficult. We have more from the northern state
:04:24. > :04:30.on how multinational companies are coping.
:04:31. > :04:35.This is the home to some of the most well-known global giants. There are
:04:36. > :04:41.nearly 250 multinational companies here. More and more are setting up.
:04:42. > :04:46.India, with a middle-class the size of the US population, is not a
:04:47. > :04:49.country which most companies can ignore. The country was hailed as
:04:50. > :04:55.one of the most promising growth markets. Unpredictable regulation
:04:56. > :04:58.and bureaucracy along with slower economic growth have shaken the
:04:59. > :05:08.confidence of companies from making big investments here. This company
:05:09. > :05:12.makes industry software to help companies design and manufacture.
:05:13. > :05:16.They have been here for decades but the company says in India, you have
:05:17. > :05:21.got to be prepared for the unexpected. The basic surprise in
:05:22. > :05:25.the market is at the unpredictability. With customers,
:05:26. > :05:33.unpredictable business, unpredictable at the old and the
:05:34. > :05:36.operating environment. You may not be obligatory office because someone
:05:37. > :05:40.has died at the road. With the complicated market, global business
:05:41. > :05:43.comes here and tested people like these. Marketing to specialists,
:05:44. > :05:50.they guide companies through the process. They say that business has
:05:51. > :05:54.grown over 70% in the past year. What is the advice they give their
:05:55. > :05:58.clients? Planning for the longer term is key. Having expectation that
:05:59. > :06:06.it will take time to succeed and not expect results in the early stages.
:06:07. > :06:10.India remains a promising yet challenging market which many are
:06:11. > :06:14.trying to crack. Why must people feel that there is money to be made
:06:15. > :06:20.in India, there are plenty of question marks. The upcoming general
:06:21. > :06:24.elections brings another element of uncertainty. That is not conducive
:06:25. > :06:28.to investment. In other business News,
:06:29. > :06:34.investigations had been launched after the Newsday reported dozens of
:06:35. > :06:36.confidential files related to Berkeley 's bank customers were
:06:37. > :06:42.allegedly stolen and then sold to world brokers. Newspapers said that
:06:43. > :06:47.an anonymous whistleblower handed it a memory stick with personal data
:06:48. > :06:51.from 2000 Berkeley customers. Berkeley 's said it was still
:06:52. > :06:57.investigating the matter. The owners of the Bangladesh Garment factory
:06:58. > :07:02.where 112 workers died two years ago have turned themselves into
:07:03. > :07:05.authorities. The arrest warrants were issued to
:07:06. > :07:09.the pair in December. It is the first time that Bangladesh has
:07:10. > :07:12.sought to profit -- prosecute factory owners in the garment
:07:13. > :07:17.industry which is the world's second-largest after China, a vital
:07:18. > :07:22.part of the Bangladeshi economy. Japan has posted the deficit for
:07:23. > :07:27.December of $6.25 billion, slightly lower than forecast. The second
:07:28. > :07:30.largest economy in Asia is dealing with a weaker yen which had inflated
:07:31. > :07:37.the cost of energy imports. In recent years, Japan has bought
:07:38. > :07:40.fossil fuels to make up for energy lost from closed down nuclear power
:07:41. > :07:44.facilities. Moving to Indonesia, the dispute
:07:45. > :07:50.between the government and the mining industry continues. In the
:07:51. > :07:52.latest move, the plan is to force mining industries to make
:07:53. > :07:57.downpayments towards the cost of building new smelting facilities.
:07:58. > :08:01.The row began in 2009 when the law was passed which required companies
:08:02. > :08:07.to process mineral ores inside Indonesia and allowing only exports
:08:08. > :08:14.of processed minerals. The law was relaxed to a degree but finally
:08:15. > :08:18.implemented last month. A earlier spoke with an expert and are simple
:08:19. > :08:24.or detail on the law and how this is impacting the mining sector.
:08:25. > :08:33.It has been on the cards since 2009. It seemed very confused and ill
:08:34. > :08:36.formulated. In the lead up to the intimidation of this requirement
:08:37. > :08:43.that it be processed on shore, it turns out that the mining Minister
:08:44. > :08:48.was try to ratcheted down bit because... Job losses have very been
:08:49. > :08:53.there because of fluctuation in commodity prices. I relight it is
:08:54. > :09:01.the more of this job reduction as a result of this new law? It depends
:09:02. > :09:08.now on how it moves forward. The miners are trying to negotiate with
:09:09. > :09:12.the government to try to ratchet down. If they can, they will carry
:09:13. > :09:17.on with exports because they have installed. If that happens, jobs are
:09:18. > :09:23.preserved. If exports continue to stall, going forward, we will expect
:09:24. > :09:29.a job losses to persist. It is an election year. We will indeed see a
:09:30. > :09:38.new president come to power. Could he overturned this law to basically
:09:39. > :09:40.appease the mining industry? Not overturn the law. Leading up to
:09:41. > :09:46.elections, there is no way they would do that. After the elections,
:09:47. > :09:49.the President, the new president, will be limited in what he or she
:09:50. > :09:55.could do. They could try to tweak it a little more and appease some of
:09:56. > :09:58.what the mining is -- miners are demanding that the overall plan is
:09:59. > :10:00.to process the mineral or onshore, that is now part of the Indonesian
:10:01. > :10:07.landscape for. -- for miners. A quick look at the markets. Some
:10:08. > :10:24.volatility in some of these markets. The South Korean market is flat at
:10:25. > :10:32.the moment but we are seeing gains for some key markets.
:10:33. > :10:41.Thank you for investing your time with us. Sport today is up next.
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