:00:01. > :00:05.And now crucial talks again for the Eurozone and Russia officially
:00:05. > :00:15.joins the WTO. Sally is back with the latest financial news on World
:00:15. > :00:20.
:00:20. > :00:25.Hello. A warm welcome. You're with World Business Report. Greece's
:00:25. > :00:30.Prime Minister calls for more time with tough spending cuts and
:00:30. > :00:35.reforms ahead of crucial talks on the EU IMF bailout. Russia becomes
:00:35. > :00:41.the 156th member of the World Trade Organisation. We assess the impact
:00:41. > :00:45.this will have on Russian business. I'm in Singapore. Japan's exports
:00:45. > :00:55.slum ping the lowest in six months in July due to sagging exports in
:00:55. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:02.Good to have you with us. As you've heard, Greek Prime Minister,
:01:02. > :01:05.Antonis Samaras, embarks on a diplomatic battle today. He is
:01:05. > :01:10.trying to keep Greece in the Eurozone by convincing his European
:01:10. > :01:16.partners he needs more time to implement major spending cuts.
:01:16. > :01:20.The shuttle diplomacy kicks off with meetings in Athens with the
:01:20. > :01:25.Euro Group Chief and the European Commission Head.
:01:25. > :01:28.He then goes to Germany on Friday, and speaks to Francois Hollande the
:01:28. > :01:33.day after in Paris. Let's go to Athens.
:01:33. > :01:37.We will speak to a Professor of Economics at Athens University.
:01:37. > :01:40.Nice to see you, Janis. The talks begin today. Antonis Samaras has
:01:41. > :01:49.been clear since he became Prime Minister that he will be asking for
:01:49. > :01:55.more time. Do you believe he will get it? I very much fear he may get
:01:55. > :02:00.it. This time it's not a resource for combating the spiral that the
:02:00. > :02:06.Greek economy finds itself in. It's more like a small rope for gres to
:02:06. > :02:11.hang itself with. The Greek state is regrettably deeply insolvent and
:02:11. > :02:15.the economy is in freefall. It cannot be cured by more loans.
:02:15. > :02:20.if he gets more time that he needs, in order to implement the spending
:02:20. > :02:29.cuts, you don't believe that will help gross and if not, what do you
:02:29. > :02:32.feel need to be done next? Well, more time now when the loan
:02:32. > :02:40.agreements and policies implemented have quite clearly failed to arrest
:02:40. > :02:44.the freefall of a big economy, is like an act of kicking the cow with
:02:45. > :02:51.an impossible heel. The Eurozone must make a simple decision: either
:02:51. > :02:55.to give gres a proper chance of exiting this death spiral, or dump
:02:55. > :02:59.Greece now, because the state loses its assets and before it gets
:02:59. > :03:04.deeper into the mire. You're saying that you don't believe it is right
:03:04. > :03:08.for Greece to exit the Eurozone; you just believe the method in
:03:08. > :03:12.keeping it within and getting it on track needs to be done differently?
:03:12. > :03:15.Absolutely. If we are going to keep Greece in the Eurozone, I think it
:03:15. > :03:19.imperative that the Eurozone is kept together. However much we
:03:19. > :03:22.don't like the Eurozone, a collapse of it would be tremendously
:03:22. > :03:30.damaging for the tkphrobl economy. We need to do three things for
:03:30. > :03:34.Greece to stay in the Eurozone: we need to separate the banking crisis
:03:34. > :03:37.from debt crisis by ensuring that capital is being injected to the
:03:37. > :03:43.Greek banks and Europeans are taken out of the books of the national
:03:43. > :03:48.debt. Secondly, we need a moratorium, or some linkage between
:03:48. > :03:56.the rate of repayments of our loans to the European Union, the European
:03:56. > :04:01.Central Bank and the IMF, linking them to the rate of growth or the
:04:01. > :04:05.reduction in the rate. We need investment in this country. This
:04:05. > :04:09.country is an economy in which the credits broke down and investment
:04:09. > :04:15.is deeply negative at the moment. All right, well, thank you for your
:04:15. > :04:19.thoughts. We will discuss this further in the
:04:19. > :04:23.next 10, 15 minutes because it is our top story in the newspaper
:04:23. > :04:27.review. We will have more analysis on how Antonis Samaras will get on
:04:27. > :04:32.later in the next ten minutes. Let'slike at what is going on in
:04:32. > :04:35.Russia. Today it becomes the 156th member of the World Trade
:04:35. > :04:40.Organisation. Now, this may not instantly improve the business
:04:40. > :04:43.climate in Russia, but many see it as a game change ner the long-term.
:04:43. > :04:48.Foreign firms will find it easier to sell goods and services in
:04:48. > :04:52.Russia as trade barriers come down. That is likely to benefit consumers.
:04:52. > :04:56.But it will no doubt make it tougher for local companies. Car
:04:56. > :05:01.company also be particularly exposed as import barriers are
:05:01. > :05:04.phase phased out. Let's go to Moscow to speak to the BBC's Daniel
:05:04. > :05:08.Sanford. It's been a long time coming. Tell us more about the
:05:08. > :05:12.impact this will have, this membership? Well, let's start with
:05:12. > :05:16.the car industry. I think Russia's car industry now accepts that it is
:05:16. > :05:19.going to take a very, very heavy hit from this, and the Russian
:05:19. > :05:24.Government have been preparing the way for that, allowing foreign
:05:24. > :05:27.companies to start coming in and setsing up manufacturing plants in
:05:27. > :05:31.Russia in the hopes that will pick up some of the manufacturing jobs
:05:31. > :05:35.which will be lost when the Russian car industry takes what is expected
:05:35. > :05:38.to be a serious hit from this. It will be also interesting
:05:38. > :05:42.developments in the pharmaceutical sector. I think Russia's
:05:42. > :05:45.pharmaceutical sector is undeveloped. As the barriers come
:05:45. > :05:50.down there, there's some big opportunities for Western companies
:05:50. > :05:52.in that area, and also there's some interesting easing of the
:05:52. > :05:56.restrictions on financial institutions - banks, for example,
:05:56. > :06:00.can start to come in under their own steam rather than having to set
:06:00. > :06:06.up local companies. Insurance companies are able to come in. Tell
:06:07. > :06:11.comes are also -- Telecoms are also important.
:06:11. > :06:16.And as you say, there are winners and losers, but for Russia itself,
:06:16. > :06:21.this is quite an important, symbolic, step, becoming a member
:06:21. > :06:24.of the World Trade Organisation, in terms of its place in the global
:06:24. > :06:30.playing field. Very important. It is the largest economy currently
:06:30. > :06:34.outside the WTO. It has the biggest population in Europe - 140 million
:06:34. > :06:37.people. It is a significant economic player. It is not as
:06:37. > :06:42.significant as it would like to be. Historically Russia has tended to
:06:42. > :06:46.go its own way. Clearly through the times of the Soviet Union they had
:06:46. > :06:49.a different economic view of the world, but since then the Russians
:06:49. > :06:53.felt they could use sharp elbows to get their way in negotiations in
:06:53. > :06:56.business. I think they have concluded there is still
:06:56. > :07:00.disagreement amongst the elite out there, that perhaps they need to
:07:00. > :07:05.buy it into the World Trade System and go along with that. There's a
:07:05. > :07:08.lot to be done in terms of sorting out bureaucracy, corruption and the
:07:08. > :07:15.rule of law in Russia before international companies can feel
:07:15. > :07:20.safe investing here. Thank you. Now some other business
:07:20. > :07:23.stories: the miner BHP Biliton, is expected to report its first drop
:07:23. > :07:29.in annual profits in three years due to rising costs and falling
:07:29. > :07:33.commodities. BHP's woes the wrap up a torrid earning season for the
:07:33. > :07:39.world's biggest miners as economic growth in China slows to its
:07:39. > :07:43.weakest pace in a decade. Ahead the Head of the IMF will
:07:43. > :07:47.arrive in Cairo for a one-day visit to reaffirm the fund support to
:07:47. > :07:51.Egypt. There's been thought of rethinking $2 billion loaned last
:07:51. > :07:58.year, but discussions have stalleded and Egypt may now ask for
:07:58. > :08:04.closer to $5 billion. Japan's exports slumped by their
:08:04. > :08:09.most in six months in July. This the fuelling fears of a fragile
:08:09. > :08:14.economy in the world's largest economy, and that it could store.
:08:14. > :08:17.Let's join our reporter in Singapore. This story has split the
:08:17. > :08:24.markets. They are trading lower because of the news out of Japan.
:08:24. > :08:29.Tell us about the tails. It is a very disappointing number of
:08:29. > :08:35.sagging markets in Europe and Asia. It left Japan with a worse than
:08:35. > :08:40.expected trade deficit. You have the ongoing Eurozone crisis and it
:08:40. > :08:46.is taking its toll on the Asian economy. Japan's trade with the
:08:46. > :08:51.world in July shows a shortfall of $6.5 billion US, the largest
:08:51. > :08:57.deficit for the month. Overall exports slid by 8%. If we break it
:08:57. > :09:03.down to regions, the EU plunged by 25 per cent in shipments to China,
:09:03. > :09:07.falling by 11% and combined exports on the leading economies, such as
:09:07. > :09:12.South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore dropping by 14%. There
:09:12. > :09:16.was one broigt spot. Europe-bound shipments which gained about 5%.
:09:16. > :09:20.When you talk to analysts they're not optimistic about the numbers
:09:20. > :09:24.going forward, forecasting the deficit trend will continue due to
:09:24. > :09:27.increasing imports and higher prices. They are speculating the
:09:27. > :09:30.results may encourage the Central Bank to take pre-emtive action
:09:30. > :09:38.again, by October, to kickstart the economy.
:09:39. > :09:44.Thank you. As I said, this has not helped markets. They are all there,
:09:44. > :09:47.across the board, trading today. Keep an eye on the euro currency,
:09:47. > :09:51.because we have been telling you about the fact that Antonis Samaras
:09:51. > :09:56.begins his discussions with creditors to Greece.
:09:56. > :10:03.The euro will be sensitive to any news flow coming from Athens.
:10:03. > :10:06.This is the States. The SNP 500 is at the point it was before Lehmann