:00:16. > :00:23.Presidential state visit. Rodrigo Duterte sits in a Singapore
:00:24. > :00:27.stopover. We talk to the country's trade minister about opportunities
:00:28. > :00:30.in the region. And what trade deals can we expect as the Russian leader
:00:31. > :00:42.meets with his Japanese counterpart. Good morning, Asia and hello, world,
:00:43. > :00:47.thanks for joining us for this edition of Asia Business Report.
:00:48. > :00:50.It's Friday and I'm Rico Hizon. Filipino President to do is in
:00:51. > :00:58.Singapore for a two-day state visit and he has received a ceremonial
:00:59. > :01:01.welcome. -- President Rodrigo Duterte. Economic relations between
:01:02. > :01:05.the two countries have always been strong. The Singapore President
:01:06. > :01:10.highlighted both sides should explore ways to boost business links
:01:11. > :01:13.and promote tourism. Earlier I spoke with the Filipino trade Minister
:01:14. > :01:17.Ramon Lopez and asked him if the business community should be worried
:01:18. > :01:21.about the President's apparent disdain towards the United States.
:01:22. > :01:26.Everything is OK because even as those things were happening, we were
:01:27. > :01:30.meeting investors and yes there is truth to some concerns being raised
:01:31. > :01:34.but maybe 90% are all worried about... Not worried about but
:01:35. > :01:38.concerned about their business and how they can expand the Philippines,
:01:39. > :01:41.the confidence has been dead because of the market, the business
:01:42. > :01:47.conditions in the Philippines. In your view, Secretary Lopez, is
:01:48. > :01:51.president Rodrigo Duterte's Pevitt towards China SmartBras yellow
:01:52. > :01:55.definitely. That doesn't mean we will kill the relationship with the
:01:56. > :02:02.other parts of the world, though. -- Mark? Definitely. It will offer more
:02:03. > :02:08.opportunities for Filipinos. -- smart? .
:02:09. > :02:15.Immediately the president of China has lifted certain suspensions on
:02:16. > :02:21.exporters that will allow banana and mango exporters to export to China.
:02:22. > :02:25.There's been talk about further deregulating the economy,
:02:26. > :02:30.particularly the property sector, the telecommunications sector. Where
:02:31. > :02:34.are we right now in this process? Definitely as a matter of policy the
:02:35. > :02:40.president has also mentioned those liberalisation is. It is opening up
:02:41. > :02:46.to other parties interested in those sectors. -- liberalisations. We are
:02:47. > :02:51.waiting for them to come in to establish operations. But this will
:02:52. > :02:55.also mean a constitutional change, opening up the constitution to
:02:56. > :02:59.changes. That's right. There will be discussions in terms of liberalising
:03:00. > :03:05.the equity restrictions on certain sectors. Some will have to be
:03:06. > :03:09.addressed by legislation, some by constitutional change. It is good
:03:10. > :03:12.that there will be some front, constitutional change discussion
:03:13. > :03:17.because of the planned change in government. Over the past few days
:03:18. > :03:22.the President has talked about his health problems and he may not
:03:23. > :03:26.finish his term. Can he really handle the job? Allowed exactly. We
:03:27. > :03:30.have seen so many state visits, he's been moving around, all the
:03:31. > :03:37.secretaries are trying to catch up with his pace. -- exactly. Anyone
:03:38. > :03:42.that can work this hard with this rigourous schedule is really
:03:43. > :03:47.something. The strength to lead the country he definitely has. Secretary
:03:48. > :03:52.Ramon Lopez from the Philippines. Remittances play a huge role in the
:03:53. > :03:56.Filipino economy and there are as many as 10 million Filipinos living
:03:57. > :03:59.and working overseas. Many are domestic helpers, construction
:04:00. > :04:03.workers or nurses but some are increasingly following a different
:04:04. > :04:06.path, working in the US where they are in demand as teachers because of
:04:07. > :04:12.the unexpected fracture of a strong economy. Timothy McDonnell reports
:04:13. > :04:17.from Arizona. Several teachers here at this high school are foreign
:04:18. > :04:23.workers hired from the Philippines. Working here is a chance to earn
:04:24. > :04:29.more and to improve their careers. I think it's a great opportunity for
:04:30. > :04:34.anyone around the world to teach here in America. Here, if I'm going
:04:35. > :04:38.to make money back home, it is four times more. I decided to go and
:04:39. > :04:45.apply to how my family because I believe I can support them well and
:04:46. > :04:49.I also believe that I could grow professionally and I could become
:04:50. > :04:53.globally competitive after learning all the strategies here. There's a
:04:54. > :04:56.very good reason the local school board here in Casagrande aid is
:04:57. > :05:02.hiring from overseas. It turns out it's very difficult to find
:05:03. > :05:06.qualified teachers in specialised subjects. The salaries are simply
:05:07. > :05:11.too low, not enough people are qualified and Americans seem to be
:05:12. > :05:14.looking elsewhere for jobs. Arizona is well below the national average
:05:15. > :05:19.when it comes to teacher salaries and while local officials are happy
:05:20. > :05:23.with how the teachers are performed, they are concerned salaries aren't
:05:24. > :05:27.high enough to attract local features. Ultimately everything goes
:05:28. > :05:34.around money, the local Department of Education came out with a report
:05:35. > :05:37.and we has as of today more than 2000 teaching positions still
:05:38. > :05:41.vacant. Kids need teachers and that's the bottom line. Sadly if
:05:42. > :05:45.that means we have to go overseas to find them, that is sadly what we
:05:46. > :05:49.have to do. The President-elect Donald Trump has promised to tighten
:05:50. > :05:52.rules on foreign workers, although he has said nothing about the
:05:53. > :05:58.specific programme that brought these teachers over. Still they are
:05:59. > :06:06.a little concerned. Yeah, I'll be worrying about it a lot because it
:06:07. > :06:09.will control the number of professionals going to specifically
:06:10. > :06:14.US. It will not only affect the teaching profession but other
:06:15. > :06:21.professions as well. Nevertheless, these teachers are fulfilling a very
:06:22. > :06:26.real need. I told my kids the number one reason why we are here is
:06:27. > :06:31.probably because your economy is mostly up. A lot of your American
:06:32. > :06:35.teachers are formally working as a teacher within companies because
:06:36. > :06:38.there are now openings and they can earn more. For the moment they can
:06:39. > :06:44.take comfort from the fact economic forces seem to be in their favour.
:06:45. > :06:49.Timothy McDonald, BBC News, Casa Grande. Rupert Murdoch's
:06:50. > :06:56.broadcasting giant 21st century Fox has struck a deal to buy Sky for
:06:57. > :07:00.nearly $15 billion. The takeover if approved will help Fox take on
:07:01. > :07:03.rivals like Netflix in the battle for viewership is. Sky has 22
:07:04. > :07:11.million customers in Britain, Austria, Germany, Germany and
:07:12. > :07:14.elsewhere. Yahoo! Has had its shares dropping overnight after a data
:07:15. > :07:19.breach from three years ago which affected 3 billion users. The
:07:20. > :07:25.announcement raised fears that the horizon could walk away or/ it's
:07:26. > :07:31.offer for Yahoo's core Internet business. Japanese gaming company
:07:32. > :07:36.Nintendo has ruled out Super Mario run, accessible on iPhones and iPads
:07:37. > :07:40.-- rolled out. It's the first time the company has made a smart phone
:07:41. > :07:44.game based on its most famous character and it follows the
:07:45. > :07:49.successful release of Pokemon Go earlier in the year. Nintendo owns a
:07:50. > :07:54.minority stake in the Pokemon company but the game was developed
:07:55. > :07:58.by a third-party. Two countries, Japan and Russia, might technically
:07:59. > :08:02.still be at war since no formal peace treaty has been signed to end
:08:03. > :08:08.the Second World War but not only did the leaders from the two sides
:08:09. > :08:12.meet at a hot spring resort, but trade relations or actively growing.
:08:13. > :08:17.Bilateral trade between them is worth over 30 billion US dollars,
:08:18. > :08:20.quadruple in over the last decade. Energy and agricultural products
:08:21. > :08:25.make up Russia's exports to Japan. So what kind of deals can we expect
:08:26. > :08:30.from their meetings? I asked that earlier to an expert from the
:08:31. > :08:35.university or she is open. From a territorial side I don't think it
:08:36. > :08:39.will happen overnight -- Shizuoka. That's why President Abe is saying
:08:40. > :08:42.they should meet up just once a year. On the economic front there
:08:43. > :08:47.are benefits from both sides, considering Russia is suffering from
:08:48. > :08:52.the economic downturn caused by low oil prices and sanctions. But Japan
:08:53. > :08:56.also wants to secure as much as possible as a trade partner
:08:57. > :09:00.considering the turmoil that we are likely to see in the US and
:09:01. > :09:08.particularly in Europe as well. Oil and commodities are the linchpin of
:09:09. > :09:13.the Russian economy. How is it counting on Japan, which is also
:09:14. > :09:16.suffering through this global slowdown? Allowed the fact of the
:09:17. > :09:21.matter is Japan has excessive high reliance on oil to Middle East, and
:09:22. > :09:25.we are trying to reduce a ratio of that for reducing our country risk.
:09:26. > :09:30.But at the same time we don't want to be in the same position as many
:09:31. > :09:36.Eastern European nations which are ransomed by gas provision by Russia.
:09:37. > :09:40.The Japanese are becoming careful about taking the next step about
:09:41. > :09:46.relying excessively on nations like Russia for energy. Let's have a
:09:47. > :09:51.quick look now at the markets and as you can see, most of the regional
:09:52. > :09:57.forces are in negative territory. That's despite the gains of US
:09:58. > :10:02.stocks overnight. We also saw a surge in banks and other financial
:10:03. > :10:07.issues standing to benefit from high... The Nikkei 225 is up more
:10:08. > :10:11.than a century due to the weaker yen against the US dollar, a ten month
:10:12. > :10:17.low for the Yemen. As for the Hang Seng and the All Ordinaries, down.
:10:18. > :10:25.As for Wall Street, after a one-day break they are back to their winning
:10:26. > :10:28.ways. -- the yen. That's it for this edition of Asia Business Report.
:10:29. > :10:31.Thank you so much for investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. Sport
:10:32. > :10:33.Today is coming up next.