:00:15. > :00:22.A signing ceremony for the ambitious trade deal, the Trans-Pacific
:00:23. > :00:28.Partnership, which President Obama hails one of the biggest in history.
:00:29. > :00:41.And it is owning season in Japan. We look today at tech giant Sharp and
:00:42. > :00:47.Toshiba. Happy Thursday, everyone, glad you can join us for Asia
:00:48. > :00:51.Business Report. We start with a long-awaited Trans-Pacific
:00:52. > :00:57.Partnership, which has taken another step towards becoming a reality
:00:58. > :01:01.today. It has been signed in New Zealand. States can ratify or reject
:01:02. > :01:10.the agreement. The deal includes 12 countries which account for 40% of
:01:11. > :01:12.the economy. We can look at the winners and losers and the impact on
:01:13. > :02:26.the economy. President Obama welcomed the signing
:02:27. > :02:31.seeing it allows America to write the rules in the Asia-Pacific and
:02:32. > :02:34.not countries like China. The ceremony has been accompanied by
:02:35. > :02:39.large protesting in many countries -- saying. This was the scene in
:02:40. > :02:43.Washington, DC across the White House. There is doubt whether the US
:02:44. > :02:48.Congress will support it before President Obama leaves office next
:02:49. > :02:52.January. This was Auckland, where the deal was signed, and we saw
:02:53. > :02:59.protesters marching through the streets against the PPP. Earlier I
:03:00. > :03:04.spoke to the New Zealand trade minister and I asked if he expects
:03:05. > :03:10.the deal to be ratified by all member countries -- TPP. I am
:03:11. > :03:13.confident it will be. Each country will go through those processes. The
:03:14. > :03:16.signature in Auckland on Thursday is a commitment by each of those
:03:17. > :03:21.administrations to move through the ratification process, and the
:03:22. > :03:28.agreement itself gives two years for that to happen. Japan and the US
:03:29. > :03:32.would have to ratify that to meet the requirements of GDP to be
:03:33. > :03:35.enforced. All of the feedback I have had from the various delegations is
:03:36. > :03:38.that they are more than confident and optimistic that they will be
:03:39. > :03:45.able to do what they need to in their own domestic processes.
:03:46. > :03:47.Minister lay, what will be the benefits of the Trans-Pacific
:03:48. > :03:53.Partnership for New Zealand -- minister McLay. The benefits are
:03:54. > :03:58.quite significant. We are a trading nation, a small country a long, long
:03:59. > :04:02.way away, from many of the world's most important markets. This gives
:04:03. > :04:08.us access to 800 million consumers who spend $27 trillion every year on
:04:09. > :04:13.GDP. When the TDP is fully enforced, more than 90% of all of
:04:14. > :04:19.the goods and services that we sell to these 11 other countries will be
:04:20. > :04:24.tariff free, quota free -- TPP. It allows New Zealand business and
:04:25. > :04:27.enterprise to play a role and be part of the manufacturing chain
:04:28. > :04:30.that's becoming so important not only in those countries but many
:04:31. > :04:38.other parts of the world. New Zealand trade minister POD -- Todd
:04:39. > :04:41.McLeay. Technology company Sharp has reported earnings today, it is
:04:42. > :04:45.struggling to make money and focus has been on the takeover or the
:04:46. > :04:48.bailout bid. It has to decide between the rescue plan by the
:04:49. > :04:53.innovation network operation of Japan and an offer by Taiwan's
:04:54. > :04:58.Honghai and electronic. I asked David Rubin Steyne which one is the
:04:59. > :05:04.better fit. Be better if it would be in Japan. Innovation's offer is less
:05:05. > :05:13.than half of Honghai but there is arguably more synergy if Innovation
:05:14. > :05:20.bought Sharp, they are hoping to combine the business with Japan
:05:21. > :05:25.Display, which has a third of the Apple market. Tashi the reports
:05:26. > :05:29.results as well and it is trying to lay the massive accounting scandal
:05:30. > :05:35.to wrest -- Toshiba. It will implement long overdue structural
:05:36. > :05:39.reforms. -- unrest. The owner of KFC reports stronger than expected
:05:40. > :05:45.results. In the last three months of last year sales at its Chinese
:05:46. > :05:52.stores rose 7%. It has suffered setbacks on the mainland following a
:05:53. > :05:55.food scandal. It is selling off its mainland business. Former head of
:05:56. > :06:02.the IMF Strauss Kahn is joining the board of a bank owned by a Ukrainian
:06:03. > :06:06.billionaire. He resigned as IMF director in 2011 after being accused
:06:07. > :06:12.of raping a woman at a New York hotel. The allegations were later
:06:13. > :06:25.dismissed. The Chinese chemicals group Chem China offered $40 billion
:06:26. > :06:33.to take over Syngenta, the biggest deal takeover by a mainland firm. I
:06:34. > :06:41.ask Ed Vinalis what is behind this transaction. The reason why this
:06:42. > :06:47.deal has come about is a story of China's emerging economies -- Ed
:06:48. > :06:49.Vinales. They want to secure food supplies for 1.5 billion people,
:06:50. > :06:54.that is 20% of the world's population. And they want to ensure
:06:55. > :07:04.that that food supply is coming from within its borders, from the... And
:07:05. > :07:09.the 200 -300 million farmers are part of that solution. These farmers
:07:10. > :07:12.have hugely efficient processes. They need to modernise these
:07:13. > :07:16.smallholder farmers otherwise they can source food from imports but
:07:17. > :07:20.that does not guarantee the food security that they are looking for.
:07:21. > :07:24.And if these smallholder farmers are not part of the solution they will
:07:25. > :07:32.migrate to overcrowded cities, so it is about modernising China's
:07:33. > :07:38.agricultural industry. And as Chem China's chairman said yesterday, we
:07:39. > :07:44.want to spread Syngenta's integrated solution to these smallholder
:07:45. > :07:49.farmers. Research is in Singapore have come up with a sticky solution
:07:50. > :07:52.that could revel is everything from surgery to food prepared at sea --
:07:53. > :07:59.researchers. They have designed clue which works in wet environment and
:08:00. > :08:03.we have the details -- glue. It sounds like science fiction, and
:08:04. > :08:06.glue which hardens underwater with electricity. Here at a Tech
:08:07. > :08:14.University my research is have made it a reality. So, can you show us
:08:15. > :08:20.how it works? My pleasure. So, it works on the premise that all we
:08:21. > :08:26.need is a small voltage, it will insulate surfaces together. Right
:08:27. > :08:31.now there is nothing we can use that has strong adhesion that will hold
:08:32. > :08:35.these very dirty, wet environments. It works with a completely new
:08:36. > :08:38.mechanism, so it does not work with a normal adhesive that allows it to
:08:39. > :08:47.bond to proteins and tissues naturally. All we have to do is just
:08:48. > :08:50.put a small drop of our Lou to this surface -- glue to this surface, we
:08:51. > :08:55.put it together and we can see it is not adhesive. It is like normal glue
:08:56. > :09:00.that we can reposition as we need to but as soon as we apply the
:09:01. > :09:06.electrodes to it, the plus and -, here we have it set up already, all
:09:07. > :09:11.we do is we apply two vaults and we wait for a couple of minutes to let
:09:12. > :09:17.this work and then after that it will cross link between these pieces
:09:18. > :09:20.of conductive substrates. It is done. We can take out the
:09:21. > :09:27.electrodes. Once we take those out, we can show that it is not dropping
:09:28. > :09:37.and the adhesion has worked across these pieces of plastic. -- plus and
:09:38. > :09:43.and -. The Professor says it will be several years before the glue is on
:09:44. > :09:46.the market for surgeries, at least, but this underwater adhesive
:09:47. > :09:55.promises to transform the way that ships, pipelines and people are
:09:56. > :09:59.repaired. Most of Asia's stock markets are in positive territory
:10:00. > :10:04.after US equities had a sharp turnaround overnight as the price of
:10:05. > :10:11.oil rebounded by 8%. However, the Nikkei two is down about 1%, at 142
:10:12. > :10:16.points, as the US dollar fell against the Japanese yen. However,
:10:17. > :10:20.you have the All Ordinaries index gaining 1.1%. The greater Chinese
:10:21. > :10:26.market is in positive territory. Hong Kong is gaining 1% and the
:10:27. > :10:31.Shanghai and Shenzhen composite index are both in the plus column.
:10:32. > :10:39.Thank you so much for interesting your time with us. I am Rico Hizon.
:10:40. > :10:48.Goodbye for now. -- investing your time with us.
:10:49. > :10:49.Watching BBC News. No you're watching BBC