22/09/2014

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:00:00. > :00:00.Conference in Manchester later today. You are up`to`date with our

:00:00. > :00:15.news headlines, but what about the business? Rico is in Singapore with

:00:16. > :00:18.all the latest news. G20 finance ministers say they are closing in on

:00:19. > :00:24.their target for global economic expansion and job creation. And why

:00:25. > :00:35.China is becoming one of the world's most important markets for diamond

:00:36. > :00:40.sales. Thank you for joining us. I'm Rico Hizon. Finance ministers from

:00:41. > :00:43.the 20 largest economies in the world have left a meeting in

:00:44. > :00:55.Australia knowing they have nearly achieved a target for boosting

:00:56. > :00:58.economic growth and jobs. Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey said they have

:00:59. > :01:10.achieved their goal of setting targets of boosting GDP by 2018. The

:01:11. > :01:12.meeting also saw progress on moves to close loopholes allowing

:01:13. > :01:21.international companies to avoid tax. I asked our correspondent if

:01:22. > :01:25.these tax reforms will be successful. I would say no. Because

:01:26. > :01:32.nothing that was agreed at the G20 would change any country's tax

:01:33. > :01:34.policy. Why not? It is up to individual countries and

:01:35. > :01:40.legislatures. The G20 is unelected and has no real power. The

:01:41. > :01:42.established disagreement that by the end of 2018 the member states will

:01:43. > :01:46.share their tax information so people know who was making what and

:01:47. > :01:50.where, and where they are claiming deductions. So while they can't stop

:01:51. > :01:55.countries from making these tax evasions, most of which are legal,

:01:56. > :01:59.they can at least shame people into paying money where they actually

:02:00. > :02:02.make their money. Is there really the possibility of merging the

:02:03. > :02:08.global tax reform system for all the countries to work, or is that all

:02:09. > :02:12.political talk? It is all talk, it is a pipedream. But what they can

:02:13. > :02:17.do, which Mr hockey has started to do, is make the information

:02:18. > :02:22.available so we know who has earned what and where. But you can't merge

:02:23. > :02:28.tax systems, that is a national issue. How does this tie into

:02:29. > :02:34.attempts to tax Digital Enterprises? It won't. The UK is going to keep

:02:35. > :02:43.its patent tax, and we will not tax Digital any different to regular

:02:44. > :02:48.commerce. So the buck stops here and we won't really see a resolution

:02:49. > :02:59.during the G20 meeting in November? I don't no `` I don't know where the

:03:00. > :03:06.buck., but we won't see any change there. European stagnation, lack of

:03:07. > :03:11.world free trade progress, though Haar has been stuck for a decade,

:03:12. > :03:17.and the TDP, which started out as a great multinational initiative has

:03:18. > :03:20.devolved `` TPP. The best hope for getting through is if Republicans

:03:21. > :03:25.take control of the Senate, thereby pushing it and getting around the

:03:26. > :03:30.threat of a filibuster. Everyone is saying it has to be done now before

:03:31. > :03:34.the mid`term elections take place in November. I think the best hope is

:03:35. > :03:39.after the mid`term elections, because Obama will have an easier

:03:40. > :03:44.time with a Republican than Democrat Senate. In other business is making

:03:45. > :03:47.headlines, General Motors has recalled more than 220,000 cars to

:03:48. > :03:50.correct a brake defect that could increase the risk of fire. It

:03:51. > :03:53.affects some Cadillac models from 2010 and 2014, and recent versions

:03:54. > :03:55.of the Chevrolet Impala. They have been no deaths or injuries resulting

:03:56. > :04:13.from the latest problem, according to General Motors. China says it is

:04:14. > :04:16.to end its restrictions around housing purchases to boost local

:04:17. > :04:18.markets. More than 30 cities across the mainland have made similar

:04:19. > :04:24.initiatives to boost economic growth. In 2011 China put limits on

:04:25. > :04:31.the number of homes locals could buy in its very hot property markets.

:04:32. > :04:38.But slow sales this year have left cities overstocked. It is said

:04:39. > :04:53.diamonds are a girl's best friend, and this is true in China. According

:04:54. > :04:56.to De Beers, sales of diamond jewellery to mainland consumers grew

:04:57. > :05:01.by 21% over the last ten years, the fastest`growing market in the world.

:05:02. > :05:07.The share of polished diamonds sold in China grew from 3% to just over

:05:08. > :05:17.13% last year, including the cities of Hong Kong and Macau, that rises

:05:18. > :05:20.further by 2015. Will the markets stay bullish? Our Hong Kong

:05:21. > :05:29.correspondent put that question to the chief executive of De Beers. The

:05:30. > :05:34.rate of growth of diamond jewellery is going to still be very strong,

:05:35. > :05:41.but maybe a little bit wider than what we enjoyed in the last ten

:05:42. > :05:43.years. I still believe that in the foreseeable future, diamond

:05:44. > :05:49.jewellery sales will remain around 10% or higher. Maybe not as big as

:05:50. > :05:53.20%, but 10% is as big a growth as we can enjoy around the world. Ten

:05:54. > :05:59.years ago China was 3% of the world market, now it is 13% to 15%. So the

:06:00. > :06:05.base is much higher. 10% growth over a bigger base is equivalent to 20%

:06:06. > :06:10.in a smaller market. So it is still good growth and we believe greater

:06:11. > :06:17.China is the engine of growth for the future. Let's talk about prices.

:06:18. > :06:22.This is a very important question. Given that there is likely to be

:06:23. > :06:27.less production, over the next ten years, will prices rise? Prices will

:06:28. > :06:37.fluctuate with the economic environment. But the bumps up and

:06:38. > :06:41.down are not that big. Over the long`term, diamond prices, they have

:06:42. > :06:44.always been increasing over the years. If you are looking for an

:06:45. > :06:51.investment, not over one or two years, but over five or ten years,

:06:52. > :06:57.diamond prices are increasing. And will keep on increasing. Here in

:06:58. > :07:01.Asia, China is the main growth driver, but what about other

:07:02. > :07:06.economies such as India? Do you think they will ever take over as

:07:07. > :07:09.growth drivers? We have a very solid base with Japan today, and very

:07:10. > :07:13.strong growth in China. Just behind it India is a good engine for growth

:07:14. > :07:15.in the next three to four years. Indonesia, Thailand and those

:07:16. > :07:32.countries could become the next sources of growth. So Asia is a very

:07:33. > :07:35.big region for us. This week India's mission to Mars reaches a crucial

:07:36. > :07:42.stage, when scientists attempt to place a spacecraft into the Martian

:07:43. > :07:45.orbit. The mission has attracted global attention, so what will

:07:46. > :07:52.success mean to the multimillion`dollar space industry?

:07:53. > :07:59.Our correspondent has more. India's man on Mars mission was successfully

:08:00. > :08:02.launched in November last year. And after travelling more than 600

:08:03. > :08:11.million kilometres, the spacecraft is now on the cusp of entering the

:08:12. > :08:14.Martian orbit. With the aim of finding signs of life on the red

:08:15. > :08:21.planet. This is the epicentre of India's Mars mission. For the last

:08:22. > :08:23.ten months, nearly 200 scientists have been working around the clock

:08:24. > :08:36.monitoring the spacecraft's movement. And is now they `` and now

:08:37. > :08:38.they are just days away from discovering if the mission was

:08:39. > :08:41.successful. But the project director knows expectations are high. He says

:08:42. > :08:45.he is not worried if everything does not go to plan. We should not be

:08:46. > :08:48.worried about failure. That is the basic value of our organisation.

:08:49. > :08:57.When you take up such projects, which are challenging and very

:08:58. > :09:01.dreamlike, we are living the dream. This is space exploration on a

:09:02. > :09:08.Budget ` $73 million to be precise ` less than one tenth of what NASA has

:09:09. > :09:11.spent on its Mars satellite. Critics question whether a country such as

:09:12. > :09:14.India, where one third of the population lives below the poverty

:09:15. > :09:21.line, should be spending money on space programmes at all. But a

:09:22. > :09:28.former head of the space agency of India says missions like these are

:09:29. > :09:31.essential for a growing economy. Nations can be prosperous, but to be

:09:32. > :09:34.an economic power you have to be strong in terms of various areas,

:09:35. > :09:45.where the country has to go beyond survival. So one of the important

:09:46. > :09:49.aspects of sustaining a high level of growth involves science and

:09:50. > :09:56.technology. India's ambition is to overtake China and Japan in the

:09:57. > :09:59.field of space exploration. And whatever the outcome of the mission,

:10:00. > :10:10.NASA and India's space agency are in talks to work together on further

:10:11. > :10:15.studies of Mars. Asia is moving lower to start the new trading week

:10:16. > :10:22.after US equities were little changed on Friday after the strong

:10:23. > :10:28.debut of Alibaba was offset falling shares in other areas. Hang Sang

:10:29. > :10:37.getting back a hefty 306 points, and the All Ordinaries down by 47. I'm

:10:38. > :10:49.Rico Hizon. Thank you for investing your time with us. I'm Adnan Nawaz.

:10:50. > :10:52.The top stories this hour: A new refugee crisis is unfolding on the

:10:53. > :10:55.Turkish border, as tens of thousands of Kurds from Syria try to find a

:10:56. > :10:58.safe haven from I`S militants. Defeating Islamic State ` the former

:10:59. > :11:01.British Prime Minister Tony Blair says airstrikes alone will not be

:11:02. > :11:02.enough, and that ground troops may be