06/01/2016 World Business Report


06/01/2016

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Virtual reality, robots and futuristic cars, oh yes!

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It's all the latest gadgets and tech stuff on display at the massive

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consumer-electronics show in Las Vegas, it officially opens today.

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Talks continue into extra time to settle trade

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conditions between the US and South Africa, at stake, South Africa's

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access to the world's biggest economy hundreds of millions

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Welcome to World Business Report, I'm Aaron Heslehurst.

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Across the globe, tech industry insiders are charging their

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CES kicks off today a sprawling consumer technology

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showcase that seems to extend to more Las Vegas venues every year.

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This show has seen the launch of everything from the VHS recorder

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Today Samsung to one-person start-ups, thousands of companies

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will demonstrate new products, while, behind-the-scenes, deals

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will be struck to make further generations of gadgets possible.

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The BBC's Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones is in Las Vegas.

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It's the week when the technology world arrives with a view of the

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future. Virtual technology is all the rage. This is headset mixes the

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virtual and real words go back worlds. There are all kinds of

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robots in all shapes and sizes. Meet a robot shop assistant. It will take

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you to the bread counter. A lot of these products never make it to

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market, but this is the place to come if you want to see something

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that is going to be big next year and the year after. The people who

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are here are making the products that will build the future. We are

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used to seeing all sorts of things that this show, but this is

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different. This is the first rollable flexible television screen.

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I seem to have not broken it! This is a prototype, but when they get

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much bigger, you will be able to roll your television up when you are

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not using it. This is becoming a motor show, a brand-new Chinese firm

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launched this car. It is never likely to move from fantasy to

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reality. But it does have a more realistic electric car in the

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pipeline. Everything is smart, everything is intelligent. You have

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smart watches, smart jewellery, smart toilets. Everything except the

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car. So our plan is to build the most intelligent vehicle on the

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road. And here is something really futuristic, a headset which

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stimulates hair growth with leases. But even the latest technology

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cannot work miracles. We will have a lot more coming from that over the

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next couple of days. The clock is ticking but

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South Africa says it still hopes to solve a dispute with the United

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States over farm exports, despite At stake is South Africa's

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membership of the African Growth and Opportunity Act,

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also known as AGOA, a US programme designed to help African

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exporters. Last

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year the US set the deadline saying it would

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revoke the duty-free status of South African agricultural produce

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unless Pretoria took action by the end of the year to loosen

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restrictions on US farm exports. Eliminating barriers to US

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trade and investment is one of the criteria for membership of AGOA,

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which provides duty-free access into the

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world's biggest economy for goods from sub-Saharan African countries,

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ranging from crude oil to clothing. South Africa exported $176 million

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in agricultural products to the Speaking back in August, the

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US Bureau of African Affairs I think African countries have not

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taken full advantage of the opportunities provided. We are

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working with those companies through consultations with American

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companies and trade ministers to try to increase the productivity of

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companies that are exporting to the United States to increase the

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quality of the products they are. Increasing working with them to show

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them how to provide quality products for the US market. It is a long-term

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process, it's not something that will happen overnight. But I think

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the companies get it. Certainly the eligible countries to get it.

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With me is Razia Khan, Chief Economist,

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What is this all about? It is not just the US being rosy? To let

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Africa have access to the world's biggest economy, they are saying

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they would have to be some restrictions? Yes. There is a level

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of reciprocity. A number of African countries receive duty-free

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opportunities which is important given the size of the market, but

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they are not allowed to place their own restrictions. In this instance,

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South Africa perhaps have some health concerns... Health concerns

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with US products? Yes. We see negotiations trying to continue the

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deal and a brief on imports into South Africa. This is a potential

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stumbling block. Isn't part of the problem for South Africa that it

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needs to deal with the US more than be reversed? Yes, that is always the

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case when you are looking at countries that really represent much

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smaller economies. Clearly, this is something that the South African

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economy does need. South Africa's growth has been disappointing since

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the GIC. It has never really resumed its precrisis growth. There are

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issues. -- GFC. Although the South African currency has come under

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pressure, there has not been any significant movement in our

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performance. South Africa is not in a position where it can afford to

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say, we have lost that export market, let's look elsewhere. It is

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interesting that you say that the South African currency has lost a

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lot of work. It makes things in South Africa very cheap? But the

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flipside is that it is very expensive to buy American products?

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Yes. If you look at the way the trade relationship has traditionally

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gone, you see that South Africa's imports, China has become a much

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more important trading partner. Oil imports have always been quite

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significant. South Africa has really been held back because of its

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dependence on commodities and because of the problems in its

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mining. Even with the benefits of a more competitive currency, it has

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not necessarily seen a game. It is not really in a position to be able

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to withstand the pressures potentially associated with the loss

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of an export market if the negotiations are not successful. The

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deadline was the end of last year, we are now looking at extra time to

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try and reach a deal. We will all be keeping an eye on it.

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In other news: Activity in China's services sector grew

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at the slowest pace in 17 months in December, according to

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China's services sector has been one of the few bright spots

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in the economy over the last year, helping to offset the slump

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Twitter users who struggle to stay inside the limits of their

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140-character tweets could see that extended by thousands after the

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Following reports, the social networking site may now employ a

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new feature allowing users to tweet up to 10,000 characters at a time.

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Internet firm Yahoo has shut down its video hub Yahoo Screen after the

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The closure is part of the company's efforts to cut

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Yahoo will now spread its video content throughout the website.

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Don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on

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