06/12/2017 Asia Business Report

She says the UK is close to a deal

to move on to trade talks.

Labour said the government's

approach to Brexit was

now an embarrassment.

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Canada tries to salvage free-trade

talks with the Chinese before the

Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau,

wraps up this trip to the mainland.

And the chief of Air France launches

an airline catering to Minelli and

-- millennials. Will be ID take off?

-- idea. Good morning. Hello, world.

It is Wednesday. Glad you could join

us for another action packed edition

of Asia Business Report. I'm Rico

Hizon. We start of Canada and the

Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has

left Beijing for the industrial city

of Gwangju on his men they too. He

met the country's leader Xi Jinping

on Tuesday for a state dinner. China

is currently Canada's second-largest

trading partner with annual

bilateral trade worth around 70

billion US dollars. The two sides

had expected to launch formal

negotiations for a free-trade pact

during Mr Trudeau's visit, but

progress is proving to be slow.

China has had similar agreements

with New Zealand and Australia.

Earlier, I spoke rolling.

He has

taken a principled approach to free

trade. I think I has been stable and

fixed in his approach that any trade

deal to become rancid, progressive,

and ultimately to the benefit of

Canadians.

Is it to principles? He

wants to achieve trade deals

involving Labour, gender, and

governance issues. I think the Prime

Minister will be empowered by the

fact the DPP is called the

comprehensive and progressive

Trans-Pacific Partnership. And I

think he wants to show to Canadians

that the electorate back home, that

he is focused on these ideas and

that he is not going to sell the

shock to the Chinese. But he is now

in China. Everyone thought that the

negotiations would start. He is

towards the end of his Milan 2-up.

Can it still be salvaged?

Something

can still be salvaged. This

government is very good at guessing

solutions and outcomes and

announcing them in a way that

announces all stakeholders.

Economic

growth in Australia has just come

in. Just shy of Amla' expectations

at 0.6% for the third quarter --

analysts deposit occasions.

Australia has extended its record

straight doubling 100 five quarters

without a recession. But are there

some clouds on the horizon? I joined

by Timothy McDonald. More than 25

years without a recession. This is a

record.

It is a record. Are you

familiar with the name Steven

Bradbury? Who is he? He was

Australia's first Winter Olympics

gold-medallist, this set -- skater.

He won because literally everyone

else in the race fell over on the

ice will stop I do not think that

will happen in the next Winter

Games. In some ways I -- Australia

seems like the Steven Bradbury

economy. It just plods along. The

growth does not tend to be

spectacular, but somehow it never

seems to fall over. It just keeps

going. Much like Steven Bradbury,

some of it has been locked. On the

other hand, standing up is part of

the job if you are a speed skater

and for an economy as well. Of

course, governments on both sides of

the aisle have claimed credit for

this record streak of going about a

recession, but that Esky was

something is in the economy and in

some ways it is a bit of an academic

figure. Australia has had some

period of fairly slow growth. Right

now there are some concerns. There

is something of a housing bubble,

prices are very high, affordability

is low. When you couple that with

slow wage growth, the RBA has

expressed some concern about that.

Then again, good retail sales

figures came out yesterday. The

reserve bank is forecasting about 3%

growth for next year. A fairly

respectable number for a developed

economy. In some ways things are

looking good for Australia. So long

as it does not slip on the ice.

The

Bottom Line, the streak continues.

It does.

Thank you so much the

update on the Australian economy and

for this Winter Olympics gold medal

winner, comparing him to the

Australian economy. My college

there, thank you so much for joining

us, Timothy McDonald. India's

central bank is scheduled Maka

monetary policy decision in the next

several hours. Is expected to keep

its rate on hold. Recent figures

believe that the economy is on the

rebound. But consumers have been

dealing with rising costs, a new

national taxes, and the fallout from

a sharp Giemont translation. This is

what we expect the central bank to

do moving forward.

I think the only

expectation that there is is that

they might ease again. Nobody is

looking for them to hide. Given how

inflation is panning out, we have

had growth above 6%, I do not see

how the central bank can justify

easing rates again.

What is the

biggest challenge right now facing

the economy? Is it rising inflation,

the impact from Demontre Hurst, or

the GST?

I would not say that rising

inflation is the biggest threat

the GST?

I would not say that rising

inflation is the biggest threat. For

next year, definitely I think

inflation is coming back on the

radar. For now, the economy has to

take into account that there are

lingering GST related outcomes.

Apart from these three factors, what

could potentially hurt the economy

going forward.

The focus pretty much

remains on many's reforms agenda,

campaign, we see 2017 being a year

of two halves -- Modi's. The focus

has been much focus to reform

speaking up. Elections are coming

up. I do not see the momentum

sustaining 2018.

The lead Asia

economies -- won a start Oxford

economics will stop in aviation, Air

France is hoping to stand out from

an increasingly crowded market by

launching a new low-cost character.

It is a play on the French word for

Young. It is the airline's second

attempt at courting -- cutting

costs. They want to attract

millennials were trending items such

as organic salad and juices. But is

that enough to boost earnings? That

is a question we asked Frank Turner,

the chief executive at Air France.

It is the answer to several

objectives. The first one is to

operate a lower cost airline. I'm

not saying a low-cost airline. I am

saying a low-cost airline. The

second is to project a very light

company being able to test and AMSA

new ways of travelling. New

entertainments. We will have new

mills. It is about ways of

travelling -- menials.

Low-cost

carriers are still quite a dominant

force in Europe. Do you think by

launching an airline like this it

will help you take on the low-cost

characters Joon is not specifically

targeted to compete with low-cost

carriers.

If we do that we have the

answer, we have low-cost carriers.

The main threat and the main target

we have is to compete with the

carriers not on the low-cost segment

of but in the next segment. Not into

leisure or business.

Will it improve

your margins, because Air France

margins have always been...

The idea

is to boost our margin. It is also

to relieve the pressure on some

routes in order to commit to Air

France mainline as well as Joon to

Joe, using batterers resources.

You

have announced a new partnership

with Jet Airways in India. How will

this help Air France?

You consider

that India is a very big market. We

are under representing this market.

Our aim is to increase the presence.

The best way to do this is offering

the biggest opportunity possible to

the customers in Europe and in

India. The market between India and

the United States is very active.

Growing double digits. As you know,

we a very strong partnership as we

create this new opportunity and this

joint venture. What we will bring to

the Indian market is a seamless

experience between India and the US

market.

Frank Turner of Air France.

Letters have a quick look at the

markets. Currently mixed and

lacklustre. This is after US stocks

closed in negative territory

overnight. Thank you so much for

investing your time with us. I am

Rico Hizon. Sport Today is up next.