05/09/2017 World Business Report

Now it's time for World Business Report.

The boss of the UK trade body that's expelled the public relations firm

for the worst breach of ethics in its history is here.

Leaders of the largest emerging nations are discussing how to build

Also in the programme, as Cuba opens up its domestic

economy, we'll be taking at how fresh investment is sparking

a revival in the country's mining industry.

The public relations firm Bell Pottinger has been expelled

The Public Relations and Communications Association says

the company was unethical and unprofessional and brought

In an unprecedented move its expelled Bell Pottinger

This follows the companies media campaign for the wealthy Gupta

family of South Africa that was heavily criticised

for stirring up racial tensions in the country.

The Guptas have been accused of benefiting financially from close

links to South Africa's President Zuma and hired Bell Pottinger

The trade body says the secret media campaign is the worst breach

Well Francis Ingham, Director General of the PRCA.

Thank you for coming in. It was a difficult decision. We have expelled

Bell Pottinger for at least five years. The breach of ethics is the

worst I have seen in my ten years as Director General and it is important

to show the industry has standards. James Anderson's decision to resign

was not enough? It was necessary but not sufficient. The industry needed

to make a stand and a kind of work, staring up racial tension in a

fledgeling democracy, in many ways, is just unacceptable and we have

expelled them. We have not done anything of this magnitude before

and we wanted to make clear we have standards and we will enforce them.

It is a very well-established PR company, one of the world 's biggest

and it has been around for a long time. Either they knew what was

happening and turned a blind eye all the internal processes were so bad

that a few people could do this. Either way it is not acceptable.

This contract, i.e. Providing media PR for the Guptas was worth 100,000

pounds a month. It is a big contract. It is not one he did not

keep a close eye on. That is the question people in the industry are

asking. Something clearly went badly wrong. If Bell Pottinger is even to

be considered to come back after five years, they would have to prove

they have changed fundamentally. Will the companies survive these? In

my view, it is highly unlikely. It is an astonishing lapse of judgement

and ethics and that is why we have expelled them. I must admit, the

cynical of us in journalism I thinking this is how PR parades. It

is not. The vast majority of PRCA members are ethical and run their

companies well and care about doing the right thing. That is why we

expelled Bell Pottinger because they did the wrong thing. Thank you for

coming in. More detail on our website.

It's the final day of the summit involving leaders of Brazil,

Russia, India, China and South Africa -

The group has been quick to condemn North Korea for their nuclear

missile tests, but discussions have also centred around

While the White House is pushing a protectionist trade agenda,

President Xi Jinping wants to use this summit to promote

what he describes as "an open world economy".

Then there's the BRICS bank - a smaller, alternative

to the World Bank- used by governments

It handed out $1.5 billion of loans last year and has

pledged $2.5 billion in funding for this year.

China itself has pledged $80 million in funding for BRICS

projects, including an economic and technology cooperation plan.

But there are doubts about whether the BRICS summit

Beijing is busy with its own hugely ambitious Belt and Road initiative,

pledging $124 billion to expand trade links

Who better to find out than from Rico Hizon on. The group represent

3.6 billion people, about 40% of the world population and the five

nations together have complained to GDP of around 17 trillion dollars,

equivalent to 22% of the gross world product and an estimated four

trillion US dollars in combined foreign resources. They are focusing

on the feasibility of a free trade area. China wants a position as a

catalyst of localisation in the face of President Trump's America first

agenda and detection is initiative. The president, Xi Jinping, said they

want more trade liberalisation and facilitate a global chain and global

rebalancing. Other countries could expand their reach and growth.

Thailand, Mexico, Egypt, Guinea, all spread across the continent from

where the original BRICS are located. Despite the challenges,

economists forecast BRICS will play an increasingly important role in

the world with the World Bank expect the growth to pick up to 5.3%.

Now to Cuba which has also been hit by the recent downturn in commodity

prices and that's because it is the world's sixth

So in an effort to boost the mining sector, the Cubans have launched

joint ventures with foreign companies, and opened the first

Following an investment of almost $300 million, this new mine in

north-western Cuba is expected to produce around 100 tons of zinc and

lead concentrate every year. Even though the mining sector has been in

decline, the Swiss company behind it is a joint venture with the state is

confident it will succeed. The first new mine in over 20 years does come

at a certain environmental cost. Open mining always will beat is one

of the Cuban government considers it necessary in order to begin to

diversify its economy away from tourism. At the recent National

Assembly, the president addressed some hard economic realities. Last

year, the economy shrank by 1%, partly following a drop in support

from oil-rich Venezuela. But the government points to new investment

in tourism as well as construction, and mining, in the hope to kickstart

a new era of growth. Cuba nickel is the traditional driver of the

mining. It has seen difficult years with low global prices. The Cuban

state has again had to embrace a joint venture this time with a

Toronto -based company. They want to expand, in crisp reduction and fast

to do the best job we can. To become one of the more efficient producers

in the world. An estimated 240 different mining and managing

projects are supposedly available for foreign investment. Despite the

optimism, the challenge in Cuba is getting such project off the ground

in the first place. That's World Business Report. The

News review coming up in just a few minutes, I will see you then.

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