21/08/2017 Asia Business Report

at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham.

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

Round one of Nafta talks wrap up as the US, Canada and Mexico try to

revamp the 20-year-old trade agreement. And find out why an

entrepreneur in Japan is staking her future on DNA analysis. It is a

Monday, everyone. Glad you could join us for this edition of Asia

Business Report. I am Rico Hizon. The first round of talks aimed at

revamping the North American trade agreement, or Nafta, ended a few

hours ago. The US, Mexico and Canada held meetings in Washington, DC and

covered more than 200 different negotiation topics. Our business

reporter has been following this story. A lot of wheeling and

dealing, but was there progress made in this negotiation process? Based

on the joint statement the countries put out following the first round of

talks, it looks as though there was progress in the fact they are

committed to coming to a deal by early next year. That is the hope,

and they are committed to making sure they are try and achieve that

through the next couple of rounds of talks. The next three rounds will

take place in early September, as well as October, in Mexico, Canada

and the US. The US is warning substantive changes to the Nafta

agreement, not just tweaks, so experts are saying that when they

want to compress changes that takes years in two months, that will take

be difficult to achieve. It is a 23-year-old trade deal, so President

Trump says it has been imbalanced and he wants to bring changes to it.

And abroad is calling this as the dating game between the three

countries involved. Which country has -- everyone is calling this a

speed dating game between the three countries involved. Which country

has the most at stake? It is a top priority for the US administration

but the issues at stake had to do with things like dispute resolution.

What happens when one of the countries, Canada, Mexico, or the

US, has an issue with dumping or subsidies, how will they resolve

that conflict? Another thorny issue with all the countries involved has

to do with where the products come from, especially cars. And it is not

only Nafta that President Trump wants renegotiated. He also wants a

renegotiation of the South Korea US trade relationship. Looking ahead to

what is on the economic and business calendar this week on later today

Thailand will release its gross numbers for the three months until

June. First-quarter growth beat expectations but it will be

interesting to see how the Southeast Asian country performs in the second

quarter. Tuesday, we will get the full year earnings from Australian

mining giant BHP Billiton. The recent swings could impact financial

performance there. And on Thursday it is the annual meeting of

prominent central bankers and finance ministers in the US state of

Wyoming. This meeting comes as the US central bank, the Federal

Reserve, has raised the cost of borrowing already twice this year

and has signalled it will raise rates one more time. The question

now is exactly when. And the weak wraps up with earnings from

Australia's Qantas. Earlier I spoke with a representative of the London

School of Economics who says his focus on the annual meeting of

central bankers in the US, and what the outcome could be for Asia. For

Asian businesses, the cost of funds is important and my cost of funds

would be very dependent on what the Fed or ECB do. Jackson hole is a

coming together of Central Bank governments, as you have said. The

economic backdrop right now is one of cautious optimism. No one is

talking about disinflation any more so it looks like demand is picking

up at least sickly glee. So the question is one of assessing how

sustainable is the current update -- cyclically. But if we see another

rate hike, this will raise the cost of funding. It is a surgical

operation and the surgeons are meeting in Wyoming. It will raise

the cost of funding. Over to Japan, which has one of the world's lowest

start-up rates and an even lower number of female entrepreneurs.

Generally Japanese women who set up their own businesses tend to be in

predictable industries such as fashion or beauty but our

correspondent tracked down a female entrepreneur who took the road less

travelled and set up a business analysing people's DNA. A typical

networking event for Japan's entrepreneurs. Despite the

government's effort to encourage more women to go into start-ups, it

is mainly made. This 28-year-old stands out. She is the founder of a

company in a very unusual industry, analysing people's DNA. Less than 1%

of Japan's population has had their DNA tested to find out what kind of

illnesses they might develop in the future. It means almost everyone in

Japan is her potential customer. So this is the kit that you will

receive at home. It costs 500 US dollars, and you will get the result

in about four to six weeks. The practice of gene analysis is

controversial among doctors and industry experts, because there is

no proof of its effectiveness to predict future illness. TRANSLATION:

Because it is DNA, customers tend to think that the results are 100%

accurate. You can even end up with two very different results if you

use different companies. And controversy was not the only

challenge for Junko. TRANSLATION: I knew my parents would be surprised

to hear that I wanted to start my own company. I thought they would

probably object to it, so I didn't tell them for six months after I

founded Gene Quest. You feel your face discrimination because of your

age and your gender? I sometimes get treated like what is this young

woman doing? But as a result people remember me more, so being a young

female CEO is not just a disadvantage. Shoko has managed to

overcome the challenges of being a young female entrepreneur by

ignoring her critics, something that most women here still don't feel

comfortable doing in this Mail dominated society. You might be

familiar with this saying. Only two things are certain in life, death

and taxes. Well, this week we are looking at the economics of death.

How much does it cost and who covers the bill? And we are starting our

coverage in New York. It is no secret that real estate prices in

the Big Apple are among the highest in the world, and guess what. It is

a similar scenario for those planning on residency six feet

under. Our correspondent went to find out more. Deals worth dying

for? Not in Brooklyn. In a city where land is at a premium, it may

come as a surprise that even cemeteries are pricing people out.

This cemetery still has room to grow but they are also trying to maximise

the space they already have. We wanted to provide the people of

Brooklyn especially with an option where they can have affordable

burial, and in their own neighbourhood. At a $2400 per square

metre, this is some of the priciest land anywhere in the city. It is

just like buying real estate, location, location. A grave which

will bury three people, and we bury one on top of the other, can start

as low as $4500 and can go as high as 18,000, depending upon the

location. 1-way people are avoiding the hefty pricetag associated with a

7.5 metre plot is by cremation. Something which is on the rise here

in New York. It still leaves the question of what to do with the

Ashes. This is a little, little closer to the New York border.

Jozsef sources granite from around the world to make tombstones,

mausoleums and grave markers for pets. It is very expensive to bring

something in from South Africa. Correct, it is very heavy and very

laborious. People may be cremated more, but Ashes are often left in

the closet and forgotten. We are working with a cemeteries to create

programmes very close to fishing, to have people's cremated remains

buried in the cemetery, a place where families can gather and there

is a name on the wall. If that name is not inscribed on the stone,

you're never here. The cost of burial is going up as land is being

used for other things but in a place like New York it is hard to put a

price on being remembered. Let's have a quick look at the markets. As

you can see, on our screens at the moment, flat and lower for most

Asian markets. Still being impacted by the Barcelona deadly attack and

deepening concerns over US President Donald Trump's economic agenda. The

Nikkei 225 down by seven points and the all ordinaries index giving back

47.5 points. The dollar fell against a basket of currencies, as continued

uncertainty over the economic agenda of President Trump pushed investors

out of the US dollar. Thank you so much for investing your time with