■ Petroleum
Russia may pick Japan
Russia is leaning toward the construction of a major oil pipeline to Japan rather than its energy hungry rival China, Energy Minister Igor Yusufov said Friday. "The northern route is of greater strategic importance for us, and we hope that it is built. This will boost the region's economy," Yusufov said. Tokyo hopes that Moscow builds a 4,000km pipeline from oilfields in eastern Siberia to the Far Eastern port of Nakhodka, facing Japan. Russia for its part hopes that once the pipe become operational, some of the oil will also be sold on to customers in the US. But the project faces intense competition from Beijing, which has tried for nearly 10 years to convince Moscow to build a 2,400km pipeline at a cost of US$2.5 billion, from the Siberian city of Angarsk to Daqing, in northeast China.
■ Banking
Former BOC head arrested
The arrest in China of Liu Jinbao, former chief of the Bank of China's Hong Kong branch, appears to be unrelated to his activities in the territory, Hong Kong's central banker said yesterday. "I guess this is a matter for China. To my understanding, it's unrelated to BOC Hong Kong," Monetary Authority chief executive Joseph Yam told reporters. "Their [Chinese] legal agencies are handling the matter. If they find that it is related to Hong Kong, the [Chinese] regulatory authorities will definitely inform us. But we haven't been thus informed to date," Yam said. Bank of China, the country's largest foreign exchange lender which is seeking to list shares next year, said in Beijing on Friday that Liu had been formally arrested and had been sacked as BOC vice chairman, suspected of having committed economic crimes.
■ Trade
Japan, S Korea discuss FTA
South Korean and Japanese trade ministers in Seoul yesterday discussed a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries ahead of bilateral talks on the pact in Japan next week, officials said. Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Shoichi Nakagawa, and his South Korean counterpart Hwang Doo-Yun agreed that the FTA must cover all industrial sectors regardless of their political sensitivity and importance in the domestic economy of each country. Hwang said the benefits the FTA would bring to the two countries should be balanced and the agreement should take into account the differences in the economic development of the two countries. "We find it rather curious that South Korea, which has one of the world's largest economies, makes claims as if it were a weak economy," Nakagawa was quoted as telling Hwang.
■ Cosmetics
L'Oreal's profit jumps
The French cosmetics giant L'Oreal posted double-digit growth for the 19th year in a row, reporting its net income rose 16.7 percent last year to 1.5 billion euros (US$1.2 billion). Sales figures reflected the drop of the euro against the dollar and slipped 1.8 percent to 14 billion euros (US$11 billion) last year, but the company said excluding currency exchange factors, sales grew 7 percent. The company's net operating profit, excluding goodwill and exceptional items, rose to 1.7 billion euros (US$1.3 billion), up 13.5 percent from 2002. According to the company, last year's results highlight the performance of the L'Oreal brands and its progress, the chief executive Lindsay Owen-Jones, said.
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