:00:00. > :00:18.Now it's time for World Business Report.
:00:19. > :00:20."Hundreds of billions of dollars in the US
:00:21. > :00:29.The words of President Trump as he signs a mammoth defence deal
:00:30. > :00:32.with Saudi Arabia - but who are the real
:00:33. > :00:46.Plus the designs may be chic and stylish but is frantic or placed to
:00:47. > :00:49.start a technology company? We have a special report as campaigning gets
:00:50. > :00:49.under way in the Parliamentary elections.
:00:50. > :00:54.I'm Sally Bundock - also in the programme
:00:55. > :00:57.the Trans Pacific Partnership is back!
:00:58. > :01:08.We begin with President Trump who is on his way to Israel:
:01:09. > :01:13.Over the weekend in Saudi Arabia he signed agreements worth hundreds
:01:14. > :01:15.of billions of dollars between Saudi and American firms.
:01:16. > :01:19.The deals are said to be worth more than $350 billion over
:01:20. > :01:21.the next ten years and build on America's decades-long alliance
:01:22. > :01:23.with the world's largest oil producer.
:01:24. > :01:25.Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its economy away
:01:26. > :01:28.from oil after crude oil prices slumped by half over
:01:29. > :01:33.Among the US firms trying to work with Saudi Arabia's private sector
:01:34. > :01:35.the likes of Honeywell, Dow Chemical and General Electric.
:01:36. > :01:39.A key part of the agreement is a $110 billion arms deal -
:01:40. > :01:42.which the White House says is the single biggest in US history.
:01:43. > :01:45.It will supply a range of military items including planes,
:01:46. > :01:46.ships, sophisticated radar and precision-guided bombs.
:01:47. > :01:50.The arms deal is part of a tough stance that Mr Trump appears to be
:01:51. > :01:56.taking on Iran, a move that will please Saudi Arabian officials.
:01:57. > :02:02.It's in sharp contrast to his predecessor Barack Obama,
:02:03. > :02:09.who in 2015 signed the nuclear deal with Iran.
:02:10. > :02:14.Speaking at a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday,
:02:15. > :02:17.Mr Trump singled out Iran for criticism, accusing it
:02:18. > :02:33.of fuelling sectarian conflict and terror across the region:
:02:34. > :02:41.Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner to peace all
:02:42. > :02:47.countries must work together to isolate Iran, deny yet. Funding for
:02:48. > :02:50.terrorism, cannot do it. And pray for the day when the Iranian people
:02:51. > :02:59.have the just and righteous government they so richly deserve.
:03:00. > :03:00.So much to discuss they are. -- there.
:03:01. > :03:05.With me is Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Founder of Europe-Iran Forum.
:03:06. > :03:13.This is his first foreign trip and he signed his huge deal which I am
:03:14. > :03:17.sure he is extremely pleased about. It ticks boxes with his electorate
:03:18. > :03:22.in the United States. What is your take on this arms deal? There is an
:03:23. > :03:26.argument to be made that Trump and the Saudi rulers may have overplayed
:03:27. > :03:32.their hand. Over the last few days, two big events have collided, one is
:03:33. > :03:39.the Iranian presidential elections which happened on Friday. The
:03:40. > :03:44.incumbent won with a 72% voter turnout and nearly 60% of the vote.
:03:45. > :03:50.Now nearly a few days later Trump gives a speech in which he rails
:03:51. > :03:55.against the human rights violations of Iran. The suggestion is that the
:03:56. > :03:58.spectacle of the summit may have actually come across a little bit
:03:59. > :04:03.hypocritical to members of the international community, as it
:04:04. > :04:07.pertains to US policy with Iran. What that means is that for a run
:04:08. > :04:12.mark as it is engaged as with other countries, there may be an
:04:13. > :04:16.opportunity here. One way to look at this comes down to something that
:04:17. > :04:23.the Iranian Foreign Minister observed in that he has identified
:04:24. > :04:26.that Obama was in fact a very difficult president for Iran, even
:04:27. > :04:30.though he is the one who agreed to the nuclear deal. The reason for
:04:31. > :04:35.that is because Obama carried weight in the international community and
:04:36. > :04:37.when he began to dictate his Iran policy, particularly around the
:04:38. > :04:43.application of international sanctions, Europe fell into line and
:04:44. > :04:46.went on board with the policy. The difference with Donald Trump is
:04:47. > :04:51.quite stark in that it is an clear or unlikely that Europe is going to
:04:52. > :04:58.fall behind this particular vision of Iran that Trump has articulated.
:04:59. > :05:03.That may open up some space... So in some ways for Iran there is an
:05:04. > :05:08.opportunity in the sense they have more direct line to other world
:05:09. > :05:11.leaders with not a President Obama controlling the international agenda
:05:12. > :05:17.but, also in other ways it is more difficult with Mr Trump, President
:05:18. > :05:25.Trump, and as far as he is concerned he a huge deal with Saudi Arabia and
:05:26. > :05:30.deals with Iran, where there are huge opportunities as well, pale
:05:31. > :05:34.into insignificance. Absolutely. One way to look at this $110 billion
:05:35. > :05:40.arms contract is that it is a transparent effort to put a dollar
:05:41. > :05:44.value on the strategic relationship. Compared to what Iran can offer,
:05:45. > :05:51.they have to pending comparable contracts with a US entity to sell
:05:52. > :05:56.commercial airlines to two Iranian airlines. The total value of those
:05:57. > :06:00.two deals is only $11 billion. In one single agreement that Donald
:06:01. > :06:04.Trump has announced, he delivers ten times more economic value for the
:06:05. > :06:11.United States. It is clear that Iran will not be able to compete for the
:06:12. > :06:14.US influence in that way. So realistically the Iranian
:06:15. > :06:20.administration will need to find other ways to engage with both the
:06:21. > :06:23.international community and, perhaps, with US stakeholders but it
:06:24. > :06:29.is unlikely that they will be able to create a relationship with the US
:06:30. > :06:33.government. And absolutely fascinating disc discussion and we
:06:34. > :06:39.shall four that further when we look at the news review and how the
:06:40. > :06:41.international press is measuring the trip of Donald Trump to the Middle
:06:42. > :06:43.East. That is swiftly move on. Asia-Pacific trade ministers have
:06:44. > :06:45.agreed to resuscitate the controversial Trans-Pacific
:06:46. > :06:47.Partnership trade deal, despite US President Donald
:06:48. > :07:01.Trump abandoning it. Nice to see you. Speaking of Mr
:07:02. > :07:04.Trump and his policy, he famously almost immediately pulled out of
:07:05. > :07:08.TTP. Everybody else is going to go ahead, is that right? That is
:07:09. > :07:12.correct. It is officially out of intensive care. The Trans-Pacific
:07:13. > :07:17.Partnership which everybody thought was dead in the water is actually
:07:18. > :07:19.getting a lease of life. We have ministers from the 11 Trans-Pacific
:07:20. > :07:25.Partnership countries agreed over the weekend that they will complete
:07:26. > :07:30.repertory work by November to quickly enact this free trade pact,
:07:31. > :07:33.even without the US. And, Sally, after initially appearing reluctant
:07:34. > :07:38.to move ahead without America, Japan is now at forefront of a push along
:07:39. > :07:45.with New Zealand. Support has built amongst the TPP 11, despite being
:07:46. > :07:48.only a quarter of the trade amongst the original members. Moving
:07:49. > :07:54.forward, this good of the bargaining position of the members in bilateral
:07:55. > :07:58.talks with the US. And it could also undercut the increasingly regional
:07:59. > :08:02.dominance of China, which is not part of the TPP. That is a bigger
:08:03. > :08:10.but let's pretend to feature of the agreement. So it is agreement go for
:08:11. > :08:15.the TPP. Let's watch and see how it will develop. I am so excited, I
:08:16. > :08:18.could talk that deal for many years to come. Let's talk now about
:08:19. > :08:18.France. France has got a great
:08:19. > :08:20.engineering tradition - but with restrictive labour laws
:08:21. > :08:23.and a conservative attitude to risk-taking, it's not a great
:08:24. > :08:26.place to start a technology company. A new generation of French tech
:08:27. > :08:30.start-ups is springing up - and in Emmanuel Macron -
:08:31. > :08:33.France has a new President who has been a strong advocate
:08:34. > :08:35.of technology firms. From Paris, our technology
:08:36. > :08:51.correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones Meet Kika, a robot media Centre
:08:52. > :08:55.which will go on sale in the autumn. Wherever you wiring your home you
:08:56. > :08:59.can summon it to project television on the wall, play music or make any
:09:00. > :09:03.video call. It is the kind of ambitious project you would expect
:09:04. > :09:11.to come out to look in valley. But this is Paris. Our start-up is
:09:12. > :09:15.central... This man worked for Google before starting Kika. He said
:09:16. > :09:19.France's already always had great engineering skills and now this
:09:20. > :09:22.translating into great businesses. The leading engineers come from the
:09:23. > :09:26.great schools we have here in France, one of their goals is to
:09:27. > :09:30.work in a start-up, trade and a start-up or working for a start-up
:09:31. > :09:34.is something that is really seen as exciting. When it comes to building
:09:35. > :09:38.world-class tech firms, France has an image problem. Recipes to be a
:09:39. > :09:42.lot of red tape and a cautious attitude towards investment. But
:09:43. > :09:48.that is changing. And one man could now accelerate that transformation.
:09:49. > :09:52.Ron, you did one of the best local start-ups and we want to thank you
:09:53. > :09:57.for that. Two years ago, Emmanuel Macron was the Digital economy
:09:58. > :10:03.Minister and popular with the start-up immunity. Now he is the
:10:04. > :10:07.president. And at a French venture capital fund, they say this is a
:10:08. > :10:11.story about the changing attitudes here. The election of President
:10:12. > :10:16.Macron was a good example. He is 39 years old and has never held a
:10:17. > :10:20.mandate before. The French are actually risk takers. Last year
:10:21. > :10:22.there were 12,000 start-ups in France. There are 300,000
:10:23. > :10:29.enterprises, companies being created every year in France. The man behind
:10:30. > :10:34.this high-end wireless speaker has been an entrepreneur for 30 years.
:10:35. > :10:41.As he prepares to take this product to global markets, he says France's
:10:42. > :10:45.changing. Now it is very trendy, for example, to be an entrepreneur in
:10:46. > :10:49.France. That was not the case. It is changing but we have to explain
:10:50. > :10:54.every day how it is important. There is bound to be a noisy debate as the
:10:55. > :10:58.new president tries to change the shape of the French economy. But
:10:59. > :11:02.technology firms are determined that their voices will be heard.
:11:03. > :11:05.In other news: Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin
:11:06. > :11:09.is expected to face investors in court later for the first time
:11:10. > :11:15.since the bank's near collapse in 2008.
:11:16. > :11:18.Some 9,000 people who lost money on shares are demanding ?520
:11:19. > :11:20.million in compensation from the bank and four former
:11:21. > :11:24.They say they were misled over the bank's financial health
:11:25. > :11:27.in the run up to its ?45 billion government bailout.
:11:28. > :11:35.The bank and former directors deny any wrongdoing.
:11:36. > :11:39.Stay with us and we will review other stories in the news in a few
:11:40. > :11:46.minutes time. I will see you then. The party leaders in Scotland have
:11:47. > :11:50.engaged in their first major debate of the election campaign
:11:51. > :11:54.and there were some robust exchanges