Original version

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Business Matters

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Money

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC

Global business and finance news and discussion from the BBC.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Business Matters: Barack Obama: 'Change is Going to Happen in Cuba'

News

Barack Obama: 'Change Is Going To Happen In Cuba'

22/03/2016 GMT

Barack Obama: 'Change is Going to Happen in Cuba'

BBC World Service - Business Matters, Barack Obama: 'Change is Going to Happen in Cuba'

President Obama makes the first Cuban visit by an incumbent American leader in 88 years

President Obama makes the first visit to Cuba by an incumbent American leader in 88 years. Will Cuba become swiftly Americanised?

President Obama has made the first visit to Cuba by an incumbent American leader in 88 years. Since Obama took office, there has been a steady thaw and now it looks like there is almost nothing that is not up for grabs in the current rapprochement, from sporting fixtures to medical collaboration, business opportunities and tourism. The hotel chain Starwood is committing to a multi-million dollar investment in Havana - the first US hotel company to sign a deal with Cuba since the 1959 revolution. Direct flights are due to resume between the two countries later this year. So will Cuba become swiftly Americanised? Vivienne Nunis went to find out. 

Environmentalists the world over celebrated the achievements of the Paris Conference on Climate Change last December. But one of the biggest reservations centred on the continuing use of coal-powered electricity generation in China and India - where a huge number of new plants are in the pipeline. But should we worry? A new report by the UK-based Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit argues that in fact fewer than half of planned coal plants will ever be built, as we hear from the ECIU director, Richard Black. 

March 22 is World Water Day. It is estimated that 650 million people around the world still do not have access to clean water. For many families, poor sanitation can be a killer, with tens of thousands dying from diarrhoea caused by dirty supplies and facilities. The singer Cerys Matthews, who also has a show on BBC Radio 6 Music, has travelled to eastern India as a representative of the charity Water Aid.

All this and more discussed with our guests throughout the programme - Dr Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, who is in Hong Kong. And, Simon Littlewood, president of Asia Now consulting group, in Singapore.

(Photo: U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro hold a joint press conference at the Cuban State Council, on March 21, 2016 in Havana, Cuba. Credit: Getty).

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Business Matters

Barack Obama: 'Change is Going to Happen in Cuba'

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service