:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:25.India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, looking to drum up trade ties
:00:26. > :00:39.with Myanmar. Turning over a new leaf. How will Nissan's new car fare
:00:40. > :00:41.in a crowded market? Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. Welcome to
:00:42. > :00:44.another edition of Asia Business Report. I'm Sharanjit Leyl. Thank
:00:45. > :00:48.you for joining us. India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has gone to
:00:49. > :00:52.Myanmar to boost trade ties. It is an important relationship for
:00:53. > :00:55.Myanmar because India is the third largest destination for the exports
:00:56. > :01:01.of the country. But Myanmar is coming under pressure to end the
:01:02. > :01:06.violence it is reportedly inflicting on the Rohingya Muslim minority. I
:01:07. > :01:15.asked if we can expect any deals from this visit. They are looking to
:01:16. > :01:19.increase access between the two countries in terms of ease of travel
:01:20. > :01:28.between the two nations which is important for trade and the risen.
:01:29. > :01:35.-- tourism. India is a destination for medical tourism from Myanmar.
:01:36. > :01:40.India has been a key market for Myanmar. It is no doubt on the
:01:41. > :01:47.agenda. Is India likely at all to use China's dominance? We know China
:01:48. > :01:52.is well ahead in terms of investing into Myanmar and potentially reaping
:01:53. > :01:58.the benefits. Could they exert power there? Myanmar is interested in
:01:59. > :02:06.diversified in its engagements with various countries and not limiting
:02:07. > :02:11.itself to a few. Are they likely to achieve anything? The headlines have
:02:12. > :02:19.been dominated this week by the Rohingya Reifers. Narendra Modi says
:02:20. > :02:23.he wants to deport 40,000 from India. How will they get past that?
:02:24. > :02:29.Among the topics discussed was security matters. This could be
:02:30. > :02:35.grounds for further deepening those ties that we just discussed. We may
:02:36. > :02:39.see cooperation around maritime security and these two countries,
:02:40. > :02:45.they share roughly 1600 kilometres of orders, and it is important for
:02:46. > :02:53.both sides to identify ways they can co-operate, build trust, current
:02:54. > :02:58.issues notwithstanding. -- borders. In other news, Facebook says it has
:02:59. > :03:02.discovered a Russian funded campaign to promote divisive social and
:03:03. > :03:08.political messages on its network. The company said $100,000 was spent
:03:09. > :03:15.on three dozen advertisements over a three-year period. They did not back
:03:16. > :03:31.any political party, but talked about rights and society and a
:03:32. > :03:35.quality. Hurricane Irma Hasebe Caribbean and inflicted major damage
:03:36. > :03:40.on its way towards Florida. It is expected to impact the US as well.
:03:41. > :03:45.It is causing disruption for airlines and oil supply routes and
:03:46. > :03:50.has sent farmers scrambling to protect facilities and farm deals
:03:51. > :03:53.and animals. And of cause the US is dealing with the effects of
:03:54. > :04:00.hurricanes Harvey which dropped record rainfall on Texas. --
:04:01. > :04:04.Hurricane. The refineries are wanting to restart production by
:04:05. > :04:08.early next week. The company that makes Sharpies is cutting its
:04:09. > :04:17.earnings due to the impact of the storm. Over to Malaysia, where Prime
:04:18. > :04:28.Minister Najib says he wants to see more women on boards of directors,
:04:29. > :04:35.ideally 30% of all directors. Norway set 40% back in 2003 and is now
:04:36. > :04:38.nearing that goal. Germany has a 30% target, similar to Malaysia. And
:04:39. > :04:45.over here in Singapore, the government has a 20% target by 2020.
:04:46. > :04:51.In Malaysia, the government also added that businesses without the
:04:52. > :04:57.motherboard directors will be named and shamed. -- female board
:04:58. > :05:05.directors. Will this make a difference? It is going in the right
:05:06. > :05:08.direction. He said there is a target, not when it has to be
:05:09. > :05:14.reached by. Whether it will be compulsory, voluntary... It will
:05:15. > :05:19.depend on what follows from now on. But what I do now, I spoke earlier
:05:20. > :05:23.this week at a conference, and a clear message was that the tone from
:05:24. > :05:28.the top matters. What Malaysia is doing with this statement from the
:05:29. > :05:31.Prime Minister, it is making it an issue for the entire country, which
:05:32. > :05:37.is good news. In terms of benefits financially for companies, how does
:05:38. > :05:45.it actually benefit a company's bottomline in terms of dollars with
:05:46. > :05:50.women on board? There are many studies. A lot of it is correlation
:05:51. > :05:54.rather than causation. It is hard to say exactly how much the benefit is.
:05:55. > :06:02.But what is important is the McKinsey study which showed you
:06:03. > :06:12.could outperform by 30% with gender diversity. By 35% if you have in
:06:13. > :06:20.addition ethnically and culturally diverse companies. In Asia you have
:06:21. > :06:25.cultural differences, Inge and cultural norms. That discriminated
:06:26. > :06:30.against women. -- ingrained. Where are we seeing good strides in Asia?
:06:31. > :06:37.Australia leads the way to be honest. They have a system where if
:06:38. > :06:43.they do not meet the 30% target by 2018, mandatory quotas will come
:06:44. > :06:47.into play. They are doing the best. They also have it in the public
:06:48. > :06:51.sector, which I want to see in Asia. We are only talking about private
:06:52. > :06:56.business targets are what about governments? They are in a better
:06:57. > :07:03.position to do this. I don't really know why. They do very well. The
:07:04. > :07:10.worst is Singapore is at the bottom of the list along with South Korea
:07:11. > :07:16.and Japan. Once a leader in the electric car industry, Japan's
:07:17. > :07:20.Nissan is now having to compete with other carmakers racing to deliver
:07:21. > :07:34.semiautonomous vehicles. They have announced a second generation Leaf
:07:35. > :07:38.will fall into the core product line, instead of being niche. Will
:07:39. > :07:48.the plan work? We caught up with the launch. We got sent this report. It
:07:49. > :07:57.was a huge production, with lots of aplomb for what is a dull looking
:07:58. > :08:02.car. It is the new Nissan Leaf. Why are we here? It matters because this
:08:03. > :08:09.car, the previous oration of this car, is the biggest selling electric
:08:10. > :08:13.vehicle in the world. -- itieration. Nissan and other companies believe
:08:14. > :08:17.this and something like it is the future. In 10- 15 years' time, most
:08:18. > :08:23.of us will drive some sort of electric vehicle. But worldwide,
:08:24. > :08:32.electric vehicles are still a tiny percentage of car sales to be in the
:08:33. > :08:45.US, just 1.2% of cars sold last year were EVs. Why are they convinced? We
:08:46. > :08:53.are convinced it is coming. Migration from hybrids to EVs is
:08:54. > :08:58.coming. We are more convinced than seven years ago. It is certainly a
:08:59. > :09:02.better looking car than the previous model which was kind of bug eyed and
:09:03. > :09:07.an acquired taste. But the difference is the size of the
:09:08. > :09:14.battery pack. With the new battery, the car can go up to 400 kilometres
:09:15. > :09:22.on one charge. Normal day-to-day usage, this is more than that for
:09:23. > :09:28.Japanese people. Range anxiety will not be an issue for the future. That
:09:29. > :09:35.figure of 400 kilometres is very optimistic. But Kessler and
:09:36. > :09:41.Chevrolet are already offering some with ranges over 300 kilometres. --
:09:42. > :09:47.Tesla. And now Nissan says they can do it as well. And that was at
:09:48. > :09:54.speaking to the new Chief Executive of Nissan. The markets now and how
:09:55. > :10:01.they are faring at the Asian open. We are seeing Japan's Nikkei getting
:10:02. > :10:07.something of a lift from the slightly weaker yen. We did see it
:10:08. > :10:12.actually fall to four-month lows just on Wednesday. It is coming back
:10:13. > :10:19.somewhat as investors look for a bargain on the market. Also seeing a
:10:20. > :10:24.lift to a lot of the energy shares, taking cues from Wall Street where
:10:25. > :10:31.we saw gains from US markets. A lot of worry still lingering over the
:10:32. > :10:33.Korean Peninsula. But Hurricane