:00:15. > :00:22.Billions at his fingertips. We speak to the man who will decide where the
:00:23. > :00:26.Asian infrastructure investment bank will spend its money. And how the
:00:27. > :00:36.slowdown in China is taking the wind out of the sales of the world's big
:00:37. > :00:41.shipyards. Hello and welcome to this Friday edition of Asia Business
:00:42. > :00:44.Report. The new Asian infrastructure investment bank has been described
:00:45. > :00:49.as the big rival to the World Bank and the IMF. It is a new global
:00:50. > :00:53.lender to give China more clout on the world stage and despite
:00:54. > :01:01.criticism from the US, most countries have joined. We spoke to
:01:02. > :01:07.the bank's president who has dismissed concerns about the bank's
:01:08. > :01:14.independence and standards. Some people say, just because China is
:01:15. > :01:19.the biggest shareholder, this will become the instrument of the Chinese
:01:20. > :01:27.diplomacy. I'm sorry, let me ask you a question. The US is the biggest
:01:28. > :01:38.shareholder of many institutions, do you think they are the instrument of
:01:39. > :01:45.US diplomacy? Japan is a big shareholder also, do you think this
:01:46. > :01:50.is Japan's bank? I would say no. So I think the biggest thing is to see
:01:51. > :01:54.whether the biggest shareholder lives up to expectations placed on
:01:55. > :01:58.it by other fellow members. Let's pick up on that point. There are
:01:59. > :02:01.concerns the bank won't have the same standards on human rights,
:02:02. > :02:04.corruption and environmental protection like other international
:02:05. > :02:10.financial institutions. The World Bank for example. What would you say
:02:11. > :02:17.for that? What is the ground for this kind of assumption? I think it
:02:18. > :02:23.is not appropriate to make assumptions without looking at the
:02:24. > :02:31.fact. We went through rounds and rounds of consultations with
:02:32. > :02:35.shareholders, civil societies and NGOs and look at the governance
:02:36. > :02:43.structure of this institution. So if people are familiar, if they have
:02:44. > :02:49.acquired some knowledge about everything I mentioned, and if they
:02:50. > :02:54.still think this bank will not have very good governance, what can I
:02:55. > :02:57.say? The recent stock market volatility and the economic
:02:58. > :03:02.slowdown, has it affected the ability of this bank to fund the
:03:03. > :03:07.loans you have talked about in the past? 10-$15,000,000,000 as the
:03:08. > :03:16.target of the next couple of years. No, we are not affected at all. We
:03:17. > :03:21.are fully funded by the shareholders, $100 billion
:03:22. > :03:32.registered capital traded him in five years time. -- in. He will have
:03:33. > :03:37.payments. The volatility in the Asian market or the stock market
:03:38. > :03:41.volatility will not affect our operations at all. Do you think it
:03:42. > :03:44.is a mistake that the US hasn't joined? Does it risk being left out
:03:45. > :03:51.of this new institution? The door has been opened and the door will
:03:52. > :04:01.remain open. So why do they call this a mistake? It is simply, in my
:04:02. > :04:07.view, a decision yet to be made. Today will be the very first day of
:04:08. > :04:10.trading at Myanmar's new stock exchange. It was launched a few
:04:11. > :04:15.months ago but nothing much has happened since then. No company has
:04:16. > :04:21.been enlisted so zero trading on the ground floor. As of today, one
:04:22. > :04:25.company will be trading. Let's hear about whether it is time to be
:04:26. > :04:28.bullish or bearish. There has been something of a rush year in Myanmar
:04:29. > :04:32.to get things finished before the new government takes office next
:04:33. > :04:38.week, basically so the old guys can take the credit. That the stock
:04:39. > :04:43.exchange has made it just in time. One type of stock will be traded on
:04:44. > :04:51.the first day, a company called FM I which is one of the big Roman or its
:04:52. > :04:56.-- conglomerates here, running an airline and some of the hot balloons
:04:57. > :04:59.that run over the temples. But this place is not going to be like New
:05:00. > :05:07.York or London, it is going to be sleepy. Very sleepy. Five more
:05:08. > :05:11.companies are being lined up to join the stock exchange in the near
:05:12. > :05:15.future and the hope is that this will prove an important source of
:05:16. > :05:24.funding for an economy that looks set to grow strongly in the next few
:05:25. > :05:31.years. In other business news, and earnings warning has been issued for
:05:32. > :05:35.Sharp. The Japanese electronics giant says annual earnings could
:05:36. > :05:44.fall short of the earlier predictions. Losses could be in
:05:45. > :05:51.attendance to -- could be in the tens of millions of dollars.
:05:52. > :05:56.Taiwan's central bank has lowered interest rates to 1.5% in order to
:05:57. > :06:01.prop up its faltering economy, even though the bank expects growth to
:06:02. > :06:08.pick up this year. Growth was expected earlier. The cost of living
:06:09. > :06:14.in Japan remains completely flat as of February, well below the
:06:15. > :06:18.government poll of 2%. Some believe prices could fall by as much as half
:06:19. > :06:23.a percent by the end of the year which could put pressure on the
:06:24. > :06:28.central bank in July. Revised figures from South Korea show its
:06:29. > :06:38.economy rude to .6% last year which is the slowest pace since 2012 --
:06:39. > :06:42.grew 2.6%. This presents a huge challenge for policymakers that it
:06:43. > :06:49.reflects weakness in domestic demand and a downturn in exports. Our
:06:50. > :06:57.correspondent says it is a wake-up call for South Korea. The growth
:06:58. > :07:02.rate has been declining from wonderful historical rates of 8% and
:07:03. > :07:15.more for over 40 years. We have now dropped below the world average and
:07:16. > :07:19.are the losing side of the world economy. Korea needs to retool its
:07:20. > :07:23.economy and it is about human capital, preparing people for new
:07:24. > :07:26.challenges with better education and vocational skills which will allow
:07:27. > :07:34.them to participate in the world of the future. A century ago, the
:07:35. > :07:40.world's big shipyards were in Europe but now they are in East Asia,
:07:41. > :07:45.China, Japan and South Korea. Falling global demand is now hitting
:07:46. > :07:51.them hard. We just heard about how difficult the outlook is for Seoul.
:07:52. > :07:56.Our correspondent went to the shipyards at the tip of South Korea
:07:57. > :08:02.to find out more. Here is one way to save money. A robot welder. This
:08:03. > :08:09.machine goes up and down the wall of the liquefied glass container inside
:08:10. > :08:12.the ship. The laser spots microscopic gaps which are then
:08:13. > :08:19.welded together. Highly skilled humans used to do this important
:08:20. > :08:24.work. One error in these tanks would be explosive. A leak of gas would
:08:25. > :08:30.blow the ship skyhigh. But these machines do the job and they don't
:08:31. > :08:40.demand wages. We achieve the high quality and productivity we need and
:08:41. > :08:46.we hope that our experts will carry on observing. Of the global
:08:47. > :08:50.shipbuilding industry is in the doldrums. Slow growth in China means
:08:51. > :08:55.that fewer new bigger vessels to carry iron ore and coal. Fewer
:08:56. > :09:03.container ships are needed to carry Chinese goods to the world and the
:09:04. > :09:07.rock-bottom oil price means fewer building of deep-sea ocean
:09:08. > :09:14.exploration vessels. You notice it here in the towns around the yards.
:09:15. > :09:19.This is a town on an island on the tip of South Korea. It was a magnet
:09:20. > :09:22.for Western shipbuilding experts. The decline of Europe's yards and
:09:23. > :09:32.the rise of Asia's brought them here. In this international sector,
:09:33. > :09:35.the ex-pat ladies play cards. But they are worried. Projects are
:09:36. > :09:39.coming to an end and their time may be up. Because of the downturn in
:09:40. > :09:48.the oil industry, many families have left and many families have noticed
:09:49. > :09:51.to leave. We have noticed the financial aspect of the community
:09:52. > :09:56.has slowed down. We don't know what is going to happen with employment.
:09:57. > :10:01.Shipbuilding is a global industry. People move where the work is and
:10:02. > :10:11.they move out when the work isn't there. Their families and pets have
:10:12. > :10:17.to make the best of it. Let's take a quick look at the markets. It is
:10:18. > :10:20.fairly quiet as a number of markets are shut for Easter. But Japan and
:10:21. > :10:28.Korea are trading and are currently flat. Japan has been underwhelmed by
:10:29. > :10:30.the inflation numbers. That is all for this edition of Asia Business
:10:31. > :10:31.Report, thank you for