01/06/2017 Asia Business Report

This is BBC World News. The top story...

World leaders have condemned the massive bomb attack in Kabul

Many of the casualties were civilians on the way to work.

The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has described the attack

The Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Germany, where he's been

holding talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Climate change and trade are expected to top the agenda.

This BBC video -- this video is trending on the BBC website...

It shows marathon runner Dion Leonard and the dog

which adopted him, as he ran a 260 kilometre endurance race in China.

He's been telling the BBC about how they bonded,

and what happened when the dog went missing in Western China.

One of the biggest debates of the election campaign has

Seven party representatives were involved - including the Labour

The Prime Minister Theresa May did not take part.

Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.

Back in the club. Pakistan reclaims its status as an investment

destination. Our oil investors react? And, find out why this

airport in South Asia is not popular with travellers or airlines...

Welcome to Asia Business Report. A big day for Pakistan, one that

brings a boost to the country's stock market as today is when

Pakistan rejoice the MSCI emerging markets index, that list looks at

top rank stocks from around the world, they use those lists to

determine where and how much to invest in stocks. It signals that

things could be turning around for a nation where political and terror

related problems have taken centre stage. Pakistan used to be part of

the index but was removed due to the decision to shut down for four

months in late 2008 after prices dropped dramatically meaning foreign

investors could not get their money out. We are joined by our

correspondent now. Why are they back in the club? Well, I think if you

take a look at the performance of the stock exchange, versus the MSCI

emerging markets index, the grass itself can tell you pretty much

everything about why the MSCI has decided to re-include Pakistan back

into its emerging markets index. This blue line, consistently

outperforming emerging markets. That is not all. I spoke to be CEO of the

Pakistan stock exchange. He told me prior to this that the stock market

has taken some major reforms in Pakistan. There has been a lot of

lobbying and corporate governance going on. There's the issue of

better economic growth, that everyone is not amused about -- not

everyone is amused about this. Someone said to me that perhaps

Pakistan has bitten off more than it can chew... It is great for

Pakistan's ego, they love the idea that now we are no longer in the

frontier, we are in the respectable index. But, they must remember that

before they were a big fish in a small pond. It was about 8% waiting

in the frontier index, now it is maybe 1%, or less, waiting. They are

a small fish in the big pond now. That was Mark may be speaking. We

looked at the charts, pretty impressive gains there. It does not

take away from the fact that Pakistan is somewhat scary a place

with terror attacks and Osama Bin Laden's death as well. Doesn't it

put off investors? You are right, we should not underestimate how much of

a major blow to confidence many of those terror related to tax and

political problems we have seen in Pakistan have been, not just for

foreign investors but domestic investors. This data surprised me

when I researched the story that I put in my blog on the website today.

Look at these figures coming out of Pakistan for more than a decade.

There is that dip in economic growth, in mid-2000 GT many of the

financial problems. Then you have that trajectory upwards. 5% growth

rate, respectable in this part of the world. A big domestic

consumption story reflected in the performance of the Karachi stock

exchange over 20 years. Look at this chart. All of those terror related

incidents we talked about, political issues like the assassination of the

former Prime Minister, every time these things happen, there is a dip,

an impact on the stock market but Pakistani shares tend to do very

well over a long-term period. People I spoke to who invested in the

market over that ten or 20 year horizon have done remarkably well.

There is the fact that China is investing in Pakistan with the

Chinese Pakistan economic cadre, part of one belt, one road. That

plan that China has. We will see more investment there. Turning to

neighbouring India, it has lost its title as the world's fastest-growing

major economy. In the first three months of 2017, the rate was 6.1%,

compared to China which was 6.9% growing in the first three months.

It is thought to be due to the bank's ban on big banknotes. General

Electric and Caterpillar are among the first to tie up deals with

Vietnam. The boss of the low-cost carrier there has two group AG five

billion dollars. The Prime Minister in the middle here with the trade

Secretary has said he expects up to $17 billion worth of deals to be

signed during his trip to meet the US president Donald Trump. The USA

expressed concern about the rapid growth of Vietnam's death said. A

Chinese activist has been detained while investigating alleged rights

abuses. The man was working undercover at a factory making shoes

for the US President's daughter's shoe company. Most people look to

pharmaceutical firms to provide life-saving medicine but do not give

much thought as to how critical drugs are transported. Extreme

temperatures can affect the effectiveness of the drug. This is

where drug distribution companies come in. The chief executive of one

firm told us that they are focusing on getting medicine to some of

Asia's poorest countries. Some countries still have frontier

tenancies, there is a lot of building still to do. The

Philippines, my mother with a population of 60 million people and

a huge democratic future ahead. -- Myanmar. Hopefully it will bring in

opportunities. Our competitors have been there a while, but it is time

for some change. Unusually, you sold out of your Chinese state, out of

the Chinese market. Are you potentially losing out on growth? I

learned in my various guises by working in China that you either go

big or not at all. Half in and half out, you get murdered. It was a

competitive market in China. There was a lot of working capital

required to succeed and we would never have had the resources to do

China justice. Cardinal health are doing a very good job. It would have

meant we had to close down other operations in other markets where we

have leadership positions. I would rather be a strong leader in the

markets I operate in rather than be a weak player in China where local

players have me for breakfast. You have got quite big clients and drug

companies, like GS K, Pfizer, Novartis, this has been impacted

greatly by consolidation. How has it impacted you as a drug distributor?

You win some and you lose some, we have had some major changes in the

last three or four years. We benefited from some of those as

partners see us as a long-term safe haven, and sometimes it goes the

other way. We live with the reality that there is consolidation and

there needs to be, as different companies focus on certain

therapeutic areas, we live with the reality. It does not damage us,

sometimes it helps and sometimes it hinders. Now, take a look at this.

That is the tarmac of an airport in Sri Lanka that has been dubbed the

world's emptiest International Airport. It cost about $1 billion to

build, funded by loans from China. But why is it hardly in use? Our

team went there to the International Airport to find out...

is Sri Lanka's second International Airport after Columbo in the south

of the country, and opened in 2013. I'm told there is not much going on

here. Let's have a look... Slider by is the chief flight operator from

this airport. It goes from Columbo to Dubai. And it is the only airline

that operates? Yes. At the moment. How many passengers do you get per

week? Per day, we can say about 50 to 75% of guests departing from this

airport. Let's have a look at the markets

before we go. Japan's McKay has opened and it is at 1% higher. There

was a rebound in oil prices. They have fallen to a three-week low,

helping resource related stock. That's all for this edition of Asia

Business Report. Thank you for