:00:00. > :00:14.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:15. > :00:24.Taking off. Asia's airlines are turning a profit once again. We find
:00:25. > :00:27.out why. US President Barack Obama visits Vietnam. What will this mean
:00:28. > :00:39.for the country's fledgeling technology sector? Good morning,
:00:40. > :00:47.Asia, hello world. It is Tuesday. Glad you could join us for this
:00:48. > :00:50.edition of Asia Business Report. Let's start off with the Asia
:00:51. > :00:55.Pacific airline industry and it is in the black again. After a few
:00:56. > :01:02.difficult years, the Association of Asia-Pacific airlines say they have
:01:03. > :01:08.recorded combined earnings of 6.9 billion US dollars last year. In
:01:09. > :01:12.that compares with losses of $1.2 billion for 2014. So what has
:01:13. > :01:18.changed for the airline industry in the region? I posed that question
:01:19. > :01:23.earlier. The major thing behind this is that costs have come down. That
:01:24. > :01:28.has been led by the lower oil price. Earlier this year although prices
:01:29. > :01:30.have been down for some time a lot of airlines are rolling through
:01:31. > :01:34.their previous hedges so they are taking advantage of those prices and
:01:35. > :01:37.that is where we are seeing that profitability come about. It remains
:01:38. > :01:40.a tough environment, very competitive. Especially for Asian
:01:41. > :01:42.airlines are seeing that profitability come about. It remains
:01:43. > :01:49.a tough environment, very competitive. Especially for Asian
:01:50. > :01:56.airlines amongst the sign. Can this kind of proper profitability amongst
:01:57. > :02:00.Asian carriers be sustained in 2016? At this stage it looks like it
:02:01. > :02:05.will. Oil prices have come up slightly but around the $50 a barrel
:02:06. > :02:08.mark which is where most airlines' business cases on the long-term have
:02:09. > :02:12.been. In that sense it should sustain them through but again,
:02:13. > :02:15.these airlines are still going to have to make smart moves to stay
:02:16. > :02:20.ahead of the competition. They are going to have to invest in products
:02:21. > :02:24.to make that a long-term, viable thing for them. What kind of smart
:02:25. > :02:29.moves should these Asian carriers adopt? Are they keeping these
:02:30. > :02:40.savings or are they passing them on to the passengers? At the moment
:02:41. > :02:43.they are keeping a hold of I think longer term they will have to pass
:02:44. > :02:45.those savings, particularly if this market remains quite competitive,
:02:46. > :02:47.and so there is definitely an incentive for them to keep on
:02:48. > :02:50.cutting fares. That will mean they have to keep investing in new
:02:51. > :02:53.aircraft that will have to be more efficient, and look at ways of doing
:02:54. > :02:57.things more efficiently, may be flying longer routes. For instance
:02:58. > :03:01.Singapore airlines plan on flying non-stop began to the United States.
:03:02. > :03:05.That will give them an advantage over a carrier which might have to
:03:06. > :03:12.stop in the Middle East or somewhere along the way -- Singapore Airlines.
:03:13. > :03:16.In other business is making headlines, American beverage giant
:03:17. > :03:21.Coca-Cola has stopped producing soft drinks in Venezuela, because of a
:03:22. > :03:25.sugar shortage in the country. Sugarcane production has been
:03:26. > :03:29.falling off the back of rising cost. The company said it would
:03:30. > :03:35.continue producing sugarfree drinks such as Coca-Cola light. It comes
:03:36. > :03:43.after their biggest brewer close their facilities due to a bar Bali
:03:44. > :03:47.shortage. Toyota is recalling 1.6 million vehicles in the United
:03:48. > :03:53.States to replace potentially faulty airbag inflated as. The Japanese
:03:54. > :04:01.automaker said the Japanese recall includes some but not all models of
:04:02. > :04:09.the Corolla, Siena and Lexus. Toyota says it has recalled over 4 million
:04:10. > :04:16.vehicles in America over airbags. Cash machines and convenience stores
:04:17. > :04:19.across Japan may have been hit by fraudsters with $13 million taken
:04:20. > :04:24.using credit cards created from information stolen from a South
:04:25. > :04:29.African bank. Reports say the money was withdrawn in less than three
:04:30. > :04:35.hours, from 1400 cash machines. Police suspect more than 100 people
:04:36. > :04:39.were involved. India will invest $500 million to build and operate a
:04:40. > :04:46.key uranium port following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi
:04:47. > :04:51.and the President of Iran. The port is close to run's border with
:04:52. > :04:55.Pakistan, and it would open a transit route to Afghanistan in
:04:56. > :05:01.Central Asia, for Indian goods and products, avoiding the land passed
:05:02. > :05:05.through Pakistan. When US President Barack Obama visits Ho Chi Minh city
:05:06. > :05:11.later today he will be touring a shared office space called
:05:12. > :05:16.DreamPlex, which has been described as Google needs Vietnam. It plays
:05:17. > :05:19.host to a vibrant technology start-up scene with increasing
:05:20. > :05:26.interest from foreign investors. As just one example, the Silicon Valley
:05:27. > :05:33.companies are starting a $500 million fund dedicated to Vietnam.
:05:34. > :05:43.This is the first of an Apple launched in 2012. The tech savvy
:05:44. > :05:49.start-up entrepreneurs had an eye on the key market in so far so good.
:05:50. > :05:52.Four years on it has 600,000 registered users with 4 million
:05:53. > :06:00.unique visits every month and they have attracted international
:06:01. > :06:03.investment. TRANSLATION: The company itself received funding from
:06:04. > :06:06.Singaporean and Japanese investors. They saw an opportunity to invest in
:06:07. > :06:10.a Vietnamese start-up and from that developed the product within the
:06:11. > :06:18.Vietnam market to expand into the region. And Lozi is not the only
:06:19. > :06:23.example of Vietnam's thriving start-up sector. There has been a
:06:24. > :06:30.boom in new players since the gaming sensation Flappy Bird was released
:06:31. > :06:33.three years ago. 30 million internet users and a lot of excitement around
:06:34. > :06:40.what we can build for them so they are around 3 million start-ups in
:06:41. > :06:50.Vietnam, but we estimate there will be 1000 start-ups per year in the
:06:51. > :06:53.next few years. Brodev is another start-up, its owner estimates its
:06:54. > :06:59.revenues will hit $2 million this year, mainly from the United States.
:07:00. > :07:02.TRANSLATION: The advantage is cheap Labour. Besides, Vietnam has an army
:07:03. > :07:10.of Labour. Besides, Vietnam has an army
:07:11. > :07:13.engineers, who are notably more skilled. It bodes well for the
:07:14. > :07:21.future growth of what is already a rapidly expanding start-up immunity.
:07:22. > :07:28.For more on Vietnam's technology sector we are joined now by webcam
:07:29. > :07:32.by the CEO of a software testing company. Thank you for joining us on
:07:33. > :07:37.Asia Business Report. The start-up industry, the technology sector, has
:07:38. > :07:43.really taken off over the past five to seven years. That's right, thank
:07:44. > :07:49.you for having me. I believe that the ICT industry of Vietnam started
:07:50. > :07:54.around 15 years or so ago. But for the last five or seven years has
:07:55. > :08:00.been taking off quite rapidly. I have seen the research that has
:08:01. > :08:08.indicated that the growth rate from now to 2019 could be at 11% compound
:08:09. > :08:15.growth rate, so that is quite a remarkable figure. Indeed, and an
:08:16. > :08:19.influx of funds from the United States are coming into Vietnam but
:08:20. > :08:23.of course on the flipside there are some success stories and some
:08:24. > :08:27.failures. For international investors in Vietnam. So what will
:08:28. > :08:32.it take for the foreign companies to be successful in the country,
:08:33. > :08:37.particularly in the technology industry? Should you really have
:08:38. > :08:38.connections with the government, or is the competent governance and
:08:39. > :08:45.transparency sufficient in Vietnam for them to be successful? Yes, I
:08:46. > :08:52.think it is quite interesting. I think because you look at ICT in
:08:53. > :08:57.Vietnam, the last five years, the start-ups really have been taking
:08:58. > :09:02.off, and I think it is probably attribute it to some of the failures
:09:03. > :09:08.due to not having the full understanding of the culture is and
:09:09. > :09:15.also partly it is because the start-ups, the young workforce, they
:09:16. > :09:20.used to work with lower order organisations, and coming in
:09:21. > :09:24.building start-ups, maybe that is a new experience for them. So I think
:09:25. > :09:31.it is the fact that the investors and the people and engineers need to
:09:32. > :09:35.learn to work with each other more effectively. And I think things are
:09:36. > :09:41.going to turn around very quickly. And briefly, before we let you go,
:09:42. > :09:45.what are the success and the pitfalls of LogiGear doing business
:09:46. > :09:51.is in Vietnam? I think that the success is really in the vibrant,
:09:52. > :09:57.young, very talented, very eager to learn, fast learners, and that has
:09:58. > :10:06.been a huge success for us. I think there is still some struggles with
:10:07. > :10:11.getting the scale of the top, talented workforce. So that is still
:10:12. > :10:17.a challenge for us there. But overall it is a wonderful experience
:10:18. > :10:20.for us, and we really appreciate the engineers and the workforce in
:10:21. > :10:26.Vietnam, it is really turning us around. After the dot-com boom in
:10:27. > :10:31.the 2000. Thank you very much and congratulations on the success of
:10:32. > :10:36.LogiGear in Vietnam, Hung Nguyen. Thank you very much for investing
:10:37. > :10:45.your time with us. I am Rico Hizon. See you soon.