22/05/2017 World Business Report


22/05/2017

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Now it's time for World Business Report.

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"Hundreds of billions of dollars in the US

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The words of President Trump as he signs a mammoth defence deal

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with Saudi Arabia - but who are the real

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Plus the designs may be chic and stylish but is frantic or placed to

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start a technology company? We have a special report as campaigning gets

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under way in the Parliamentary elections.

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I'm Sally Bundock - also in the programme

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the Trans Pacific Partnership is back!

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We begin with President Trump who is on his way to Israel:

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Over the weekend in Saudi Arabia he signed agreements worth hundreds

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of billions of dollars between Saudi and American firms.

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The deals are said to be worth more than $350 billion over

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the next ten years and build on America's decades-long alliance

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with the world's largest oil producer.

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Saudi Arabia is trying to diversify its economy away

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from oil after crude oil prices slumped by half over

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Among the US firms trying to work with Saudi Arabia's private sector

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the likes of Honeywell, Dow Chemical and General Electric.

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A key part of the agreement is a $110 billion arms deal -

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which the White House says is the single biggest in US history.

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It will supply a range of military items including planes,

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ships, sophisticated radar and precision-guided bombs.

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The arms deal is part of a tough stance that Mr Trump appears to be

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taking on Iran, a move that will please Saudi Arabian officials.

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It's in sharp contrast to his predecessor Barack Obama,

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who in 2015 signed the nuclear deal with Iran.

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Speaking at a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday,

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Mr Trump singled out Iran for criticism, accusing it

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of fuelling sectarian conflict and terror across the region:

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Until the Iranian regime is willing to be a partner to peace all

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countries must work together to isolate Iran, deny yet. Funding for

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terrorism, cannot do it. And pray for the day when the Iranian people

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have the just and righteous government they so richly deserve.

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So much to discuss they are. -- there.

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With me is Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Founder of Europe-Iran Forum.

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This is his first foreign trip and he signed his huge deal which I am

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sure he is extremely pleased about. It ticks boxes with his electorate

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in the United States. What is your take on this arms deal? There is an

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argument to be made that Trump and the Saudi rulers may have overplayed

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their hand. Over the last few days, two big events have collided, one is

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the Iranian presidential elections which happened on Friday. The

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incumbent won with a 72% voter turnout and nearly 60% of the vote.

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Now nearly a few days later Trump gives a speech in which he rails

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against the human rights violations of Iran. The suggestion is that the

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spectacle of the summit may have actually come across a little bit

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hypocritical to members of the international community, as it

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pertains to US policy with Iran. What that means is that for a run

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mark as it is engaged as with other countries, there may be an

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opportunity here. One way to look at this comes down to something that

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the Iranian Foreign Minister observed in that he has identified

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that Obama was in fact a very difficult president for Iran, even

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though he is the one who agreed to the nuclear deal. The reason for

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that is because Obama carried weight in the international community and

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when he began to dictate his Iran policy, particularly around the

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application of international sanctions, Europe fell into line and

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went on board with the policy. The difference with Donald Trump is

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quite stark in that it is an clear or unlikely that Europe is going to

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fall behind this particular vision of Iran that Trump has articulated.

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That may open up some space... So in some ways for Iran there is an

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opportunity in the sense they have more direct line to other world

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leaders with not a President Obama controlling the international agenda

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but, also in other ways it is more difficult with Mr Trump, President

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Trump, and as far as he is concerned he a huge deal with Saudi Arabia and

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deals with Iran, where there are huge opportunities as well, pale

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into insignificance. Absolutely. One way to look at this $110 billion

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arms contract is that it is a transparent effort to put a dollar

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value on the strategic relationship. Compared to what Iran can offer,

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they have to pending comparable contracts with a US entity to sell

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commercial airlines to two Iranian airlines. The total value of those

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two deals is only $11 billion. In one single agreement that Donald

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Trump has announced, he delivers ten times more economic value for the

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United States. It is clear that Iran will not be able to compete for the

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US influence in that way. So realistically the Iranian

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administration will need to find other ways to engage with both the

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international community and, perhaps, with US stakeholders but it

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is unlikely that they will be able to create a relationship with the US

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government. And absolutely fascinating disc discussion and we

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shall four that further when we look at the news review and how the

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international press is measuring the trip of Donald Trump to the Middle

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East. That is swiftly move on. Asia-Pacific trade ministers have

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agreed to resuscitate the controversial Trans-Pacific

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Partnership trade deal, despite US President Donald

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Trump abandoning it. Nice to see you. Speaking of Mr

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Trump and his policy, he famously almost immediately pulled out of

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TTP. Everybody else is going to go ahead, is that right? That is

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correct. It is officially out of intensive care. The Trans-Pacific

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Partnership which everybody thought was dead in the water is actually

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getting a lease of life. We have ministers from the 11 Trans-Pacific

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Partnership countries agreed over the weekend that they will complete

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repertory work by November to quickly enact this free trade pact,

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even without the US. And, Sally, after initially appearing reluctant

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to move ahead without America, Japan is now at forefront of a push along

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with New Zealand. Support has built amongst the TPP 11, despite being

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only a quarter of the trade amongst the original members. Moving

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forward, this good of the bargaining position of the members in bilateral

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talks with the US. And it could also undercut the increasingly regional

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dominance of China, which is not part of the TPP. That is a bigger

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but let's pretend to feature of the agreement. So it is agreement go for

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the TPP. Let's watch and see how it will develop. I am so excited, I

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could talk that deal for many years to come. Let's talk now about

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France. France has got a great

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engineering tradition - but with restrictive labour laws

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and a conservative attitude to risk-taking, it's not a great

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place to start a technology company. A new generation of French tech

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start-ups is springing up - and in Emmanuel Macron -

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France has a new President who has been a strong advocate

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of technology firms. From Paris, our technology

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correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones Meet Kika, a robot media Centre

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which will go on sale in the autumn. Wherever you wiring your home you

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can summon it to project television on the wall, play music or make any

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video call. It is the kind of ambitious project you would expect

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to come out to look in valley. But this is Paris. Our start-up is

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central... This man worked for Google before starting Kika. He said

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France's already always had great engineering skills and now this

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translating into great businesses. The leading engineers come from the

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great schools we have here in France, one of their goals is to

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work in a start-up, trade and a start-up or working for a start-up

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is something that is really seen as exciting. When it comes to building

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world-class tech firms, France has an image problem. Recipes to be a

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lot of red tape and a cautious attitude towards investment. But

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that is changing. And one man could now accelerate that transformation.

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Ron, you did one of the best local start-ups and we want to thank you

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for that. Two years ago, Emmanuel Macron was the Digital economy

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Minister and popular with the start-up immunity. Now he is the

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president. And at a French venture capital fund, they say this is a

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story about the changing attitudes here. The election of President

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Macron was a good example. He is 39 years old and has never held a

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mandate before. The French are actually risk takers. Last year

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there were 12,000 start-ups in France. There are 300,000

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enterprises, companies being created every year in France. The man behind

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this high-end wireless speaker has been an entrepreneur for 30 years.

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As he prepares to take this product to global markets, he says France's

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changing. Now it is very trendy, for example, to be an entrepreneur in

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France. That was not the case. It is changing but we have to explain

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every day how it is important. There is bound to be a noisy debate as the

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new president tries to change the shape of the French economy. But

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technology firms are determined that their voices will be heard.

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In other news: Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Fred Goodwin

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is expected to face investors in court later for the first time

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since the bank's near collapse in 2008.

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Some 9,000 people who lost money on shares are demanding ?520

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million in compensation from the bank and four former

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They say they were misled over the bank's financial health

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in the run up to its ?45 billion government bailout.

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The bank and former directors deny any wrongdoing.

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Stay with us and we will review other stories in the news in a few

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minutes time. I will see you then. The party leaders in Scotland have

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engaged in their first major debate of the election campaign

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and there were some robust exchanges

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