:00:00. > 3:59:59BBC World News. Now for the latest financial news with Alice Baxter and
:00:00. > :00:20.World Business Report. The case for Scottish independence
:00:21. > :00:26.'has not been made' say 130 businesses who have written to The
:00:27. > :00:28.Scotsman newspaper. The Moscow International Automobile
:00:29. > :00:38.Salon opens as the crisis in Ukraine and slowing growth send car sales
:00:39. > :00:43.skidding in Russia. Welcome to World Business Report.
:00:44. > :00:47.I'm Alice Baxter. In a minute why New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra is
:00:48. > :00:56.investing in a Chinese infant formula company. But first...
:00:57. > :00:59.300 years of history could end on 18th September when people living in
:01:00. > :01:02.Scotland will be able to vote on becoming an independent nation, and
:01:03. > :01:09.split from the United Kingdom. The battle to convince voters, one way
:01:10. > :01:12.or the other, has been fierce. But over 130 business leaders have now
:01:13. > :01:15.weighed in with a letter in The Scotsman newspaper. The letter
:01:16. > :01:18.argues that there the uncertainty that would result from a Yes vote
:01:19. > :01:26.would be bad for business and bad for Scotland. Our business
:01:27. > :01:32.correspondent Jonty Bloom reports. So far coming politicians have
:01:33. > :01:38.dominated the debate over Scottish independence but now 134 executives
:01:39. > :01:45.representing companies from distilleries to banks have come out
:01:46. > :01:50.against an Independent Scotland. They have a four main worries, the
:01:51. > :01:56.relationship between Scotland and the European Union, changes to tax
:01:57. > :02:03.and regulation, how Scottish exports will be affected and what currency
:02:04. > :02:08.they will use. The pro` independence campaign claims that a currency
:02:09. > :02:12.union with the rest of the UK would be the best option but there are
:02:13. > :02:17.alternatives. We have other options, we could have a more flexible
:02:18. > :02:24.currency like Sweden. We could have a Scottish pound attached to the
:02:25. > :02:30.pound sterling. I am seeking a mandate to have the pound sterling
:02:31. > :02:36.so that we get our wages in the pound. But the three largest UK
:02:37. > :02:40.parties have all ruled out a currency union with an Independent
:02:41. > :02:45.Scotland. The question that was asked was, if we don't have the
:02:46. > :02:50.currency Union, what is Plan B? I had no luck when I asked three weeks
:02:51. > :02:59.ago and he still cannot say what the answer will be. I want to know what
:03:00. > :03:04.Plan B is and so do you. Tell us! After accusations that businesses
:03:05. > :03:08.had real concerns over the feasibility of an Independent
:03:09. > :03:16.Scotland, voters will now have a better idea of their fears.
:03:17. > :03:19.The Moscow International Automobile Salon gets into gear today amid high
:03:20. > :03:22.hopes from western firms that Russia will turn into a lucrative market
:03:23. > :03:24.for them. One consultancy is predicting that as the economy
:03:25. > :03:27.develops, Russia will overtake Germany as Europe's biggest car
:03:28. > :03:31.market within six years. But this year, the show opens in the shadow
:03:32. > :03:37.of a rift between Russia and the US and Europe over Russia's involvement
:03:38. > :03:40.in Ukraine. On top of that, Russia's economy is on the slide, a downturn
:03:41. > :03:47.likely to be accentuated by the sanctions that have been applied to
:03:48. > :03:50.the country. Earlier this week Russia's top car maker Avtovaz
:03:51. > :03:53.announced plans to cut production of its Lada cars in the next three
:03:54. > :03:59.months due to a falling Russian market. So which companies are
:04:00. > :04:02.turning up to the show and what do they expect to get out of it? Dr
:04:03. > :04:11.Frank Schauff CEO, of the Association of European Business
:04:12. > :04:18.joins me now from Moscow. How important is this for the companies
:04:19. > :04:25.that you represent? Good morning. It is very important as an event and it
:04:26. > :04:31.takes place every two years. In terms of visitors, it is the largest
:04:32. > :04:39.event in Russia. But car sales within Russia are on the flight. I
:04:40. > :04:47.was just saying that Avtovaz has cut production of its Lada because of
:04:48. > :04:51.that `` slide, isn't that worrying? We certainly see that the car market
:04:52. > :04:57.is contracting currently. We saw in July that it was down by nearly 23%
:04:58. > :05:04.in comparison to July last year. We had certainly hoped for a different
:05:05. > :05:09.development but clearly it is better than the contraction we saw in 2009
:05:10. > :05:13.and even that which we thought in European markets in the last few
:05:14. > :05:18.years. Russia is the second largest car market in Europe and it will
:05:19. > :05:25.stay an important market for the international car industry. But of
:05:26. > :05:30.course, are you not worried about the shadow of sanctions? Are you
:05:31. > :05:37.worried that they could hit the car industry? Let's put it this way, at
:05:38. > :05:43.the moment there is no direct political implications for the car
:05:44. > :05:47.industry which derived from the Ukrainian crisis. We can see the
:05:48. > :05:53.effects on the car market which have to do with the an increased exchange
:05:54. > :05:58.rate with the euro and consumer expectations of the Russian
:05:59. > :06:02.consumers. There is no direct political implications on the car
:06:03. > :06:07.market currently. What sort of cars do you think Russian consumers are
:06:08. > :06:15.interested in? If we look at it at the moment, the middle and lower
:06:16. > :06:20.segment are suffering but certainly if you look into the structure of
:06:21. > :06:23.the car market in Russia, the future of every category of car is going to
:06:24. > :06:32.be interesting to stop what we see currently is that the medium sector
:06:33. > :06:45.is growing and is stable but that could change in a few months time.
:06:46. > :06:48.Thank you. Enjoy the show! New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra
:06:49. > :06:51.says it's forming a partnership with China's Beingmate to help meet
:06:52. > :06:53.growing demand for infant formula in the world's most populous nation.
:06:54. > :06:57.Fonterra, the world's largest dairy exporter, said it plans to take a
:06:58. > :07:00.stake of up to 20% in Beingmate, an infant food company based in
:07:01. > :07:11.Hangzhou. Rico Hizon is in Singapore... Why have they decided
:07:12. > :07:18.to do this? For Fonterra, it is about tapping the lucrative Chinese
:07:19. > :07:24.infant formula market and providing them with high`quality ingredients
:07:25. > :07:28.from New Zealand. The chief executive said that the alliance is
:07:29. > :07:35.a game changer and that they would invest a hefty half a billion US
:07:36. > :07:38.dollars into this partnership. The deal is an aggressive moves and
:07:39. > :07:49.comes out year after a contamination scare for Fonterra and in 2010, it
:07:50. > :07:53.wrote off an investment in another Chinese company after its
:07:54. > :08:02.involvement in an infant formula poisoning crisis. Beingmate will own
:08:03. > :08:09.50% and Fonterra will provide the facilities and Hebron materials.
:08:10. > :08:18.Fonterra is forging alliances in mainland China. China is the largest
:08:19. > :08:22.consumer of milk products exports from New Zealand and Fonterra is
:08:23. > :08:33.keeping its fingers crossed that this will be a successful
:08:34. > :08:36.partnership. Thank you. In other news... Mozilla, a company
:08:37. > :08:39.best known for its Firefox browser, has launched a new low`cost
:08:40. > :08:42.smartphone in India that will retail for $33 US dollars. The phone is
:08:43. > :08:45.only for sale on India's online shopping site, Snapdeal. India's
:08:46. > :08:48.emerging market is regarded as the world's fastest growing for low`cost
:08:49. > :08:51.smartphones. The Zimbabwean President Robert
:08:52. > :08:54.Mugabe is on a five day visit to China, seeking more investment in
:08:55. > :08:56.his country's economy. He was welcomed by his Chinese counterpart
:08:57. > :09:02.Xi Jinping in Beijing with full military honours. He is seeking
:09:03. > :09:04.funds to invest in decaying roads, rail and power facilities and to
:09:05. > :09:23.help mechanise Zimbabwe's agriculture. A look at the markets.
:09:24. > :09:27.Asian stocks are posting early gains on Wednesday, closing above the 2000
:09:28. > :09:38.mark for the first time but as we can see in the past few minutes, a
:09:39. > :09:45.are now slumping `` they. That is the view across the region for this
:09:46. > :10:03.hour. I will be back in just a moment, so don't go away.
:10:04. > :10:11.The World Health Organisation has called for regulations to stop
:10:12. > :10:23.makers of e`cigarette from promoting their product as a way to stop
:10:24. > :10:24.smoking. Suddenly they are everywhere,