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Quest Means Business

EU Ramps Up Sanctions; New US Sanctions; Russian Sanctions Warning; Crisis in Ukraine; Lower US Markets; European Markets Up; War Zone Aviation Summit; Ebola Outbreak

Aired July 29, 2014 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSING BELL)

RICHARD QUEST, HOST: It's a down day on Wall Street, the Dow's off the best part of 60 points, under 17,000. It's the middle of the summer,

trading is light. It's also Tuesday, the 29th of July.

Tonight, new sanctions from Europe. New sanctions from the US. They're penalties designed to punish Russia. Will they do the trick?

Also, the governing body on aviation says a new task force to be set up and still insists the system isn't broken.

And a country in lockdown. I'll be joined by Liberia's finance minister on how they're trying to contain the deadly Ebola virus.

I'm Richard Quest live from Columbus Circle in New York where, of course, I mean business.

Good evening. The EU has bared its teeth at Russia, ordering the toughest sanctions since the end of the Cold War. European leaders are

showing fresh determination after the MH17 tragedy, even though the European economy no doubt will suffer as a result.

It's called Phase 3 of sanctions, and they're much more severe. They'll shut the Russian state banks out of European markets, they'll use

strong-arm tactics designed to pressure the Kremlin into ordering a U-turn on Ukraine, and these are the areas and the sectors that are being

targeted, the so-called sectoral sanctions.

Banned imports and exports of new arms contracts. Banned goods with dual use in military. Banned certain energy equipment, and export licenses

will be denied. Also in the next 24 hours, a hit list -- eight of President Putin's cronies who are accused of helping to destabilize

Ukraine, the identities are a mystery, they're to be named on Wednesday.

In the last 15 minutes, the United States has weighed in itself, its own sanctions, adding three financial institutions to the list of banks:

VTB, Bank of Moscow, Russian Agricultural Bank. A few moments ago, Barack Obama said it doesn't and didn't have to be this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today, Russia is once again isolating itself from the international community, setting back

decades of genuine progress. And it doesn't have to come to this. It didn't have to come to this. It does not have to be this way.

This is a choice that Russia and President Putin in particular has made. There continues to be a better choice, the choice of de-escalation,

the choice of joining the world in a diplomatic solution to this situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: Now, some of the world's biggest companies are already saying they're feeling the sanctions pinch as well. BP and Renault in their

quarterly earnings have both warned growing tensions with Russia may cut into profits. BP, you'll be aware, holds 20 percent stake in Russia's

state-owned Rosneft, and that's been directly targeted with EU-US sanctions.

BP said the sanctions have not yet affected its business, and that could change, and warned of damaging its relationship with Rosneft. As for

Renault, there, an 8 percent drop in Russian sales in the first half of this year.

Worse may be to come, says the company. Renault controls Avtovaz, Russia's largest automaker. A senior executive at Renault said it was

difficult to predict how further sanctions would impact the business.

Whichever way we look at it, there's no doubt these latest Phase 3 sanctions take things to a new level, as our emerging markets editor, John

Defterios, explained.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: These have teeth, but I think the strategy from Moscow, Richard -- and I think this is the

interesting part of it -- Vladimir Putin kind of believes that his economy is too big to fail. It's $2 trillion, now.

He's attracted $250 billion of foreign direct investment over the last three years, ranking very high in terms of the global FDI, particularly

coming from Germany. He kind of feels that he has a back door out, that the European Union doesn't really mean business.

And in fact, the caveat of this sanctions deal is that they'll be reviewed in the next three months. So, if he cooperates going forward, you

can bet that the European Union would like to lift the sanctions.

This is also starting to bite on the European companies. In the last 24 hours, BP in its results complained that the sanctions are starting to

hurt relations in particular with Rosneft. Renault-Nissan, the French and Japanese automaker suggesting they don't know where they're going from

here. They have a plant in Russia right now. So does Volkswagen. So does Siemens.

And the recovery in Europe is very fragile, so I think Vladimir Putin is betting to the fact if he cooperates going forward, if he keeps up that

brave face, that the European Union will back off in the autumn, close to when the energy supplies pick up for the winter months in Europe.

QUEST: Do you see any shift in balance of power here to the Europeans, or does Putin still have the whip hand?

DEFTERIOS: Well, I think Vladimir Putin has played this very strongly to date. His domestic poll ratings have never been higher, Richard.

They're hovering around 80 percent. But the sources tell me on the ground that the economic slowdown, just that one percent growth in 2013, they're

only banking on half percent growth in 2014, really hasn't hit his constituency yet.

But what we see forming are two distinct camps. Vladimir Putin, the culture around him from St. Petersburg, running the state-owned banks, and

the other side being the economic advisors and the more moderate businessmen who have exports coming from Russia into the European Union and

even the United States. They're wondering right now where Vladimir Putin is going with this strategy.

QUEST: Is it likely that the business community, the business leaders, the chief execs, the cronies, those who Putin both made wealthy

but also who have a certain amount of influence over Putin because he needs them to keep the economy strong, is it likely those business leaders can

say to him, it's time to change your strategy?

DEFTERIOS: They won't do so publicly. And as you know, I've covered the St. Petersburg forum for the last four years. It's his kind of annual

Davos, if you will.

We had a hard time finding a Russian businessman -- the one you're referring to right now, that have a lot of clout, that have a lot of

revenue, that have a lot of influence over Vladimir Putin. They won't suggest so publicly, but if the economy starts to take another nosedive

lower because of the pressure we're likely to see in the fourth quarter, I would imagine he'll listen to the complaints he's getting right now.

But on the other side -- and I think this is starting to emerge already -- some of the major European companies are complaining already by

the actions received from the European Union and also from Washington. This unity that we've seen in the last 24 to 48 hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: John Defterios, our emerging markets editor. And, of course, those full list of sanctions, the actual detail, will be released on

Wednesday.

The European Union has released a statement saying it was extremely angry and frustrated by the delays in providing international access to the

site of the crash, the tampering with the remains of the plane, and the disrespectful handling of the deceased.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh and his team have been trying to get to the crash site with the inspection teams, and now report on the difficulties

that they are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For inspectors trying to reach the crash site of MH17, this town,

Shakhtarsk, is the major headache. Separatists hold it, but barely. We saw them, exhausted, edgy, unsure how close the Ukrainian army was

encircling them.

This man, a looter, they say, seen jumping through fences. He said he ran from shooting, led away, perhaps, to dig their trenches.

For four days, Oleg and his cat, Simone, have endured the blasts. "At 5:00 in the morning," he says, "I heard a jet approaching. I don't know

what the separatists used to shoot, but it was heavy caliber. When you hear that, you just run to the basement."

She shouts, "And now, they've bombed the peaceful people. Why? To make us run away?"

This apartment block hit by shelling. Beneath it, more militants, ragtag, unwilling to be filmed. One told me he was fighting for his town.

(EXPLOSIONS)

WALSH: And then quickly, the quiet broke.

WALSH (on camera): It's getting closer. We're now hearing what sounds like an exchange of artillery beginning between two sides, and it's

time to move back, away from here.

WALSH (voice-over): We left, along with many other locals, some on foot, all now fleeing down a road the inspectors want to travel up. This,

what awaited them when they tried to reconnoiter the site, unsuccessfully, later that day.

Another complication when in the city center of Donetsk, the war suddenly widened. Three shells hitting this apartment block at noon,

killing at least one. Locals came to stare at signs their city was now in the firing line.

WALSH (on camera): This is exactly what this city of nearly a million people feared the most, that the violence swirling around it but not

actually touching it has now come straight to people's homes.

WALSH (voice-over): We don't know who fired, but militants had a base nearby, one saying that the army may have targeted that. "This isn't

really a military unit, though," he says. "We're the security service with only pistols. We tried to evacuate people, but we don't know when they

will push the button next." Even the eerie dead of night brings no solace.

(EXPLOSIONS)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: Nick Paton Walsh now joins me from Donetsk. Nick, the EU -- you've given us the military situation. Clearly somebody is pouring petrol

on the flames of the situation. Does EU sanctions, US sanctions, does it weaken President Putin? Is it likely to have an effect?

WALSH: On the ground here, well, I think this game has already been begun, and it's complicated to see how Moscow can necessarily slow down the

actions of separatists here who've already got the heavy weapons. It's going to be simply a case of the Ukrainian military pursuing that fight.

But more broadly, what does it do to Vladimir Putin? Well, it's a really big deal, Richard. Putting aside the impact on the economy and the

impact on business, there is going to be an impact on the ordinary lives of Russians.

Some will wake up tomorrow, perhaps, and find their MasterCard and Visas just don't work. That's a small thing, but imagine if you can't pay

for things electronically. That's going to impact the lives of just millions of ordinary people.

And these are the key people who Vladimir Putin, frankly, struck a deal with, a tacit one, when he first came to power. Surrender the

political freedoms you'd like to have, the choice you'd like to have, and I'll give you a stable economy.

Now, that's persisted for a while. It's now looking very weak. He wanted to retain control, influence in Ukraine. He's going to end up

paying the price quite starkly for that. And I think there are concerns, certainly, amongst those who observe the Kremlin there may be splits there,

there may be confusion as to quite where Vladimir Putin can take them on from now.

And it's been interesting to watch Moscow vacillate in some ways, at times not seeming to have a totally clear trajectory. Putin's known as a

world stage player of some renown, but we haven't seen that astuteness in the last month or so, and something like this is so key to what originally

bought him that prestige with the Russian people, Richard.

QUEST: Thank you, Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us from Donetsk. We thank you for that.

Now we turn our attention to our normal diet of economics and business. The market was down. Alison's at the Stock Exchange. Alison,

the global economic impact from things like sanctions, from the greater disruption, are we likely to see any effect? Is that why we are seeing an

otherwise ebullient market turning lower?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Richard, we saw the otherwise ebullient market turn lower only as President Obama was

announcing those tougher US sanctions against Russia. We saw that sell-off happen in a very short span of time. And then, of course, you see the Dow

closing down 70 points.

Before the president came out and spoke, it was a day of summer doldrums. We saw stocks trade in a very narrow range, so you are seeing at

least in the moments before the closing bell, that immediate impact of those sanctions, the worry of what effect those sanctions could have on a

host of companies, Richard.

QUEST: Alison Kosik reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. To Europe now, where shares closed higher on Tuesday. It was strong earnings

that really moved the market, consumer confidence, which also jumped in the United States in July.

When we come back after the break, ICAO, IATA, an alphabet soup of organizations representing airlines and governments, have been meeting in

Montreal. What did they decide? And more to the point, will it make a difference and prevent another MH17 and clarify when it's safe for planes

to fly? QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, we're live tonight in New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: The aviation industry is to rewrite the rulebook when it comes to flying over war zones, or at least that's the promise made at an

emergency summit ordered after MH17's crash. The UN aviation body and the trade group, IATA, have agreed, first of all, set up a task force that will

look at the right safety information, which must meet the right people at the right time.

And this expert task force will agree how information is to be gathered. There'll be a major high-level safety conference to be held next

year. So far, what they've talked about is long on, if you like, words and principle, and short on detail.

Jalal Haidar is the chief executive of the independent think tank, the World Aviation Forum, joins me now from Washington. Jalal, we never

expected this was going to have much detail, much concrete, if you like, activity in it. But have they -- dodged it? Have they basically put it

off to another day?

JALAL HAIDAR, CEO, WORLD AVIATION FORUM: Well, Richard, the meeting today was significant, indeed, and those who attended the meeting are all

credible organizations who have contributed to the well-being of civil aviation. That's a fact.

However, I hope that this meeting, or the task force that was announced today, does not end up becoming just another task force. My only

concern is, which I would have liked to have seen being done differently, is to invite some governmental bodies, like the European Union, and the

major aviation powers, like the US FAA.

QUEST: But fundamentally, they talk about the need to share more information, the need to have better intelligence, the need to have better

communication up and down the chain. They seem to be saying, though, the system isn't broken.

HAIDAR: The system is broken, Richard. The system is broken because we have a broken aviation regulatory regime. We don't have an even and

balanced aviation regulatory system in the world. The regulatory component of it is critical.

However, we have a system that we can make it work if those good organizations that met today put their efforts together. And they are

competent organizations, they're professionals.

QUEST: But is -- but let me jump in here, because MH17 in many ways is the extreme horrific example of when it goes wrong. But we have an

example last week of, for example, Tel Aviv, where Israel says it's safe, FAA said it wasn't, some airlines flew, other airlines didn't.

We have an example right now where Emirates is withdrawing its routes over Iraq, in the process of, but other airlines are flying. Doesn't any

task force need to look at the nature of these, if you like -- the pick and mix scenario?

HAIDAR: The fact that we have so much chaos, airlines or carriers saying that we're flying over Iraq. Others are saying we're not flying

over Iraq. That by itself, that shows you that we have a problem.

Or carriers saying that we want to hold the bull from the horns and lead the process for risk management. That's a dangerous thing to do.

That also is another indication that the system is broken.

We have too many voices in the international aviation community, but we don't have one credible voice. That voice should be represented by the

International Civil Aviation Organization in partnership with good organizations like IATA, CANSO, and even Airport Council International.

Those are professional groups.

Unfortunately, without a political will, a worldwide political will, there's so much those good organizations can do. But I assure you,

Richard, the fact that we have so much confusion, the system is broken. In fact --

QUEST: Right.

HAIDAR: -- we have been discussing aviation security in the last two weeks since the downing of MH17 in a totally confusing manner. The

aviation security that ICAO and IATA do is not the same aviation or risk or threat --

QUEST: All right, sir.

HAIDAR: -- to civil aviation as we saw in MH17.

QUEST: We will leave it there for the moment. We'll talk more about this with you in the future as that panel comes along and the task force.

And there'll be a major summit of the world's airlines and the organizations involved, that will be in February of next year.

In a moment, the days of Vladimir Putin getting cozy with Western leaders, that is well and truly over. How the relationship has soured and

what the Russian president can do to rekindle the relationship. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: New York, where it's 4:22 in the afternoon, 76 degrees in old money. Now, then, let's turn our attention to the other big, major story

that's really dominating in many parts of the world. A doctor who was helping to fight the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has died. He's the latest

victim of the deadliest outbreak of Ebola in history. West Africa is moving fast to defend its people against the virus.

Now, the virus, you'll be well aware, Ebola has a fatality rate of nearly 90 percent. Liberia is essentially a country in a state of lockdown

at the moment. The president has shut its borders, and aside from a few highly-monitored checkpoints.

Public gatherings have been banned. The president's club football tournament has obviously been postponed. Arik Air, a major Nigerian

carrier, has canceled all flights to Liberia and to Sierra Leone.

According to the World Health Organization, there have now been at least 672 deaths from Ebola, and more than 1200 confirmed cases since the

outbreak began in March. Most are in Guinea, where the outbreak has killed 319 people. In Sierra Leone, the death toll is over 200. In Liberia, more

than 120 people.

The worry and the concern, of course, is not only how this virus will expand and kill more people in Africa, but the possibility of it expanding

even further. People getting on planes going to aviation hubs, whether in the Gulf, in Europe, in the United States.

What's the risk of airlines transporting people who are contagious with Ebola? I spoke to Professor David Heymann, chairman of the Public

Health for England, and asked if he's worried about a major escalation into other parts of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID HEYMANN, CHAIRMAN, PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND: This virus is a very lethal virus, and it has spread internationally across both land borders

and air borders. The important lesson that we have to learn is that borders cannot stop infectious diseases, including Ebola.

People can be traveling in the incubation period of the disease, or they can be traveling when they have symptoms but are not saying they have

symptoms, and they can take the disease wherever they go.

What's important, though, is that countries that consider themselves at risk -- and this is probably any country with a major airport, should

make sure that their infection control is well done in hospitals and that the population understands that epidemiology -- that is, the way this

disease transmits from one person to another.

QUEST: Is the primary obligation on the departing airport or on the arriving airport?

HEYMANN: The obligation is on many different people. It's on people themselves who are infected or who think they are infected. It's on the

airports to be sure that patients who travel are in good health and won't get sick on their airplanes.

And it's also the responsibility of immigration services in countries to keep records of people who arrived in the country so that they can be

traced, if possible. Airlines usually do this. And they can pass those to immigration services that then trace patients, or persons who have been on

a flight, if there was a patient on that flight as well.

QUEST: Is enough being done by countries at the moment? And I don't just mean in Liberia, in Nigeria. I'm talking about at the major aviation

hubs in Europe. Yes, they know about the risk, but are they doing enough at the moment to deal with it? Do they need to do more?

HEYMANN: Well, there are some good examples. The MERS coronavirus, which is circulating in the Middle East right now, entered the United

Kingdom two years ago, but hospital infection control procedures are very top-level in the United Kingdom, and that patient was isolated not knowing

what the diagnosis was, but it didn't transmit further.

Ebola has also been introduced into Europe, into Switzerland, in a hospital in Switzerland. The diagnosis was not know, the patient was

isolated, and no one got infected because of good hospital infection control measures.

It's where those measures break down that we must be worried about transmission within a hospital.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUEST: When we come back after the break, as you can tell, it's a very busy day, between EU and US sanctions ratcheting up against Russia.

We're also following, of course, the ICAO meeting that took place in Montreal. We hope to speak to leaders from ICAO and from IATA in the next

half hour of QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

And the Liberian finance minister, hopefully, will join us to talk about what's been happening with Ebola and how the country is coping with

the crisis. We'll have more. It's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, live tonight from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest. There's more "Quest Means Business" in just a moment. This is CNN live in New York, and on this network the news

always comes first.

The European Union has ordered a fresh crackdown against Russia over Ukraine. It's thought to be the toughest sanctions since the end of the

Cold War. Banking, exports and energy sectors have been targeted. The United States has added three more Russian banks to its list of sanctioned

financial organizations.

Israeli militaries released videos that show strikes against the tunnel system used by Hamas. The head of the group's military wing said

Tuesday it would not consider a truce until Israel ends its siege of Gaza. A senior Israeli official says Israel is prepared for a ceasefire. So far,

though, nothing has been agreed.

One of China's most powerful former officials is at the center of a new investigation. Zhou Yongkang is the country's domestic security chief

until he retired in 2012. This investigation's the latest to emerge as the Communist Party intensifies its campaign to weed out corruption.

The aviation industry has held an emergency meeting to discuss flying over war zones following Malaysia flight 17. The organizations have agreed

information must be better shared. A task force is to be set up to tackle the issue and there'll be a high-level safety summit next year. We'll be

talking to the head of IATA, the airline organization just after this update.

Let's get straight into. Tony Tyler's the director general of IATA, the airlines organization, joins me now from Montreal. Tony, the statement

talks about the taskforce which will be set up, better information sharing, better organization. But I fundamentally want to know how does - how will

things change as a result?

TONY TYLER, DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, IATA: Well what we expect to change is that governments will get better information on which to base

their decisions about whether to close their airspace if it's not safe, and airlines will get better information on which to do their own risk

assessments or whether they should be operating on certain routes.

QUEST: The issue remains though when governments won't or can't - now I know ICAO has a process in place for states' letters (ph), but if a

government will not or cannot, does there still not need to be an international body that comes along and says, `We say it's unsafe.'

TYLER: Well that's a question you should address to the governments who are the ones who have to decide whether they're prepared to let other

bodies, as you put it, proclaim on their airspace. But if we've got information - all the information available from every source reliably,

gather together in one place and communicate it to the industry, the industry will be in much better position to make decisions. At the moment

that's not what happens.

QUEST: We have the situation - you and I talked this week about the Tel Aviv situation - some airlines flying, others not. One authority, two

authorities saying it's not safe, others are. Let's talk Iraq. Emirate says it is no longer going to fly over Iraq. It's done its own airline

assessment. Other airlines are still making the choice and still flying over Iraq. Tony, isn't this exactly the situation that your members are

facing - difficult, some would say impossible positions?

TYLER: Well it is very difficult when you get two different governments giving diametrically opposed orders to their airlines as we saw

last week in Tel Aviv. This is exactly the sort of situation we need to prevent from happening. How is an airline of another country that is not

of Israel or the United States in that context supposed to make a decision when you've got one saying it's perfectly safe and the other one saying you

mustn't operate there. This is clearly an impossible situation for the industry to be in and one that we need to do what we can to avoid. That's

why we heartily support -

QUEST: Right.

TYLER: -- the idea of setting up a taskforce to look at better ways of managing this issue.

QUEST: Will this taskforce fundamentally in your view rewrite Article 9 of the International Convention? Now, for viewers who don't know,

Article 9 is the part of the convention. Now for viewers who don't know, Article 9 is the part of the Convention which basically says airlines - I'm

sorry, governments - are responsible for closing their airspace. Are you looking at a fundamental review of Article 9?

TYLER: No, I don't think we'll see something as fundamental as the sovereignty of airspace be challenged by a taskforce. In any case, that's

a matter for governments to decide, not for a taskforce of - under the auspices of - ICAO. But what we will see, I hope, is some new system

developed to share the information that is there. It exists but is not being shared at the moment for a variety of different reasons with the

industry. And we need to see that situation improving.

QUEST: I do need to talk about one other matter. In recent days, of course MH17 and then Algeria and the crash in Asia, three unrelated

incidents but three aviation accidents/crashes in which there were multiple fatalities. This is obviously something as IATA. I know you come up with

the numbers every year. It is a matter of concern. Is there anything that we should be thinking about in a wider picture, Tony, or is this - is it

just one of those incidents that they've all come at the same time?

TYLER: It's a terrible coincidence that we've had tragedies like this all within the space of a week. But let's try and keep it in context -

100,000 flights everyday take off and land carrying 3.3 billion passengers a year safely from origin to their destination. And so let's keep it in

context. Flying remains a very, very safe way of traveling, in fact the safest transport system known to man. That's not in any way to diminish

the awful significance -

QUEST: Right.

TYLER: -- for those involved of those three tragedies.

QUEST: Tony Tyler, thank you for joining us, sir. I appreciate your time as always and you and I will talk many more times on this and other

aviation issues that I know you're obviously covering very closely. Many thanks, indeed. Tony Tyler, the head of IATA joining me from Montreal.

We'll be talking to the head of ICAO in just a moment. But a reminder of where things stand - we were just talking on the issue. Emirates announced

yesterday that it will no longer fly over Iraq. It will take some process and some time to withdraw the routes, but having made its assessment that

Iraq is no longer safe, Emirates will now reroute the planes.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

TIM CLARK, CEO, EMIRATES: You're right that we do fly through Iraqi airspace and like the Ukrainian airspace but without, I hope, the ordinance

that it is deemed to be safe to operate above a certain fly level. But, yes, it does cause us to look at, you know, what we need to be doing in the

future - whether we should be routing more to the east or more to the west. These routes can be done and can be taken, and at the moment, we're already

doing it. Our access to the Lebanon is well out into the Mediterranean. It doesn't go anywhere near course in Israeli airspace, Syrian airspace or

anything like that. We have taken a number of measures - Tripoli we've had to stop flying, we had to stop flying to Peshawar when the Pakistan

International Airlines aircraft was shot at. We are constantly assessing what is going on. But, yes, when we are now over flying areas of conflict

which could quite potentially become far more serious, far more acute in their actions and more contagious in their effect within the region, then

we will be having to review all of that.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

QUEST: So Tim Clark there putting the position quite bluntly that airlines making the choices on when to fly. Now, back to Montreal. The

president of ICAO joins me now to talk about this - Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu. Mr. President, thank you for joining us. I see you're setting up this

taskforce. How quickly will ICAO make changes and how great will those changes be to actually make aviation safer.

OLUMUYIWA BENARD ALIU, ICAO COUNCIL PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, let me say aviation is safe and it remains the safest mode of transport.

Of course every time when there is a challenge, we quickly take action to address the challenge. The taskforce will be established within six or

eight weeks, we expect it to turn in its finding and those findings will be considered by the ICAO Council.

QUEST: What is this taskforce going to do? Is it going to look at the fundamental rethinking on how aircraft and airlines schedule routes?

Or is it basically tinkering `round the edges - the sharing of information, the better intelligence - how deep, how root and branch do you want this to

be?

ALIU: Well, essentially this taskforce is supposed to consider all the issues as associated with the gathering of information and the

dissemination of information in a coordinated and timely manner. All issues associated with that will be reviewed by the taskforce. There are

quite a number of challenges associated with social (ph) system and all these factors are to be considered.

QUEST: OK. Let me ask you, sir - the system as it's currently put together, you obviously don't think it's broken but it does need certain

amount of repair. What happens when a government can't or won't close its airspace. MH17 was one example. Some would say Israel last week might've

been another. Others would say Iraq at the moment might or could be another. In blunt terms, Mr. President, when a government either isn't

efficient or able or willing to close its airspace, surely there should be a body that can do it.

ALIU: Well, the request (inaudible) inputs is for ICAO to take some role in this. But make no mistake about it, we are not in competition with

our member states. The states have the responsibility on that in Convention and the sovereignty issues is there (ph). Every time I go as

intervene in situations like this, it is with the understanding of the challenges that we face and with the understanding of our member states.

QUEST: Right, and that --

ALIU: (Inaudible).

QUEST: And that, sir, is exactly the dilemma that ICAO faces. You can't instruct, you can't rule, you can't go against you members, which

raises the question does there need to be an independent body which rules on the safety of airspace?

ALIU: Independent body - well, I don't know. The responsibilities of ICAO is there (ph) to assist or facilitate, to coordinate activities of our

member states. We can play the role of a facilitator, but we need of course the support and agreement of our member states to play a impact (ph)

(inaudible) role in this regard. And that is what we set out to do. We hired the taskforce, we'll review all the issues, it will come to the ICAO

council and we'll seek support from our entire (ph) states for any road that ICAO will play in moving the process forward.

QUEST: At one - finally, sir, -- at one end of the spectrum we have this dreadfulness of MH17 which clearly is fundamental, root and branch,

needs to be reviewed. But you do then have the Israel situation last week where some are flying, some are not. One aviation authority says it's

safe, another says it's not. You have Iraq where Emirates won't fly, others are still flying. The traveling public, Mr. President, surely is

entitled to have a body authoritatively saying , `Safe/Not Safe.' Would you agree?

ALIU: To some extent - to some extent. But like I said, any responsibility that ICAO has in this regard will be a responsibility that

we have to get some compromise and consensus from our member states. So you have to give us the opportunity to discuss this issue, --

QUEST: Right.

ALIU: -- for the taskforce to do its job -

QUEST: Right.

ALIU: -- for the Council to consider it and to take further action in that regard. Now, if there is any other international organization that

want to step into that role, well, we're pleased to work with that international organization. But as you, ICAO is the global body for civil

aviation, and everybody's looking towards us and we'll be consorting with our -

QUEST: Right.

ALIU: -- member states on how best to address (inaudible).

QUEST: Mr. President, I can pretty much guarantee you that there won't be another organization who can do it, and certainly not one that

would want to touch this with a ten-foot pole. It is complex, it is difficult, sir, and I wish you well in your taskforce. Come back on this

program and talk about it more, sir. Thank you.

ALIU: Thank you.

QUEST: Still to come, "Quest Means Business" continues live tonight. Twitter shares are very highly up - 30 percent in after hours. Why should

Twitter be tweeting so strongly? In a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Indian e-commerce got a giant leap forward on Tuesday. Flipkart - it's the country's largest online retail site - announced it's

raised a billion dollars - a billion in fresh capital. That's the largest venture investment in an Indian company by far. Globally it's second only

to Uber's $1.2 billion funding round this year. It equals Facebook's funding three years ago - vast amounts of money are being raised. Analysts

at PrivCo told us it gives Flipkart the necessary war chest to fight off competitors like Amazon and Snapdeal. Flipkart says it will use the money

to invest in mobile technology. It's a market that's growing rapidly as investments pour in and internet access with Smartphones expands.

One billion dollar funding rounds are few and far between. In this year - in this week's - "Future Finance" we now look at how companies raise

money in the future. And the solution for raising tomorrow's cash actually comes from the past.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

JUSTIN URQUHART STEWART, SEVEN INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT: The future in economies you could determine by the success of its new businesses

developing from the nursery into fully-fledged, functional businesses. In 1945, the U.K. had 45 local stock exchanges, all serving their local

communities and fulfilling their primary purpose as an exchange - not to trade shares but rather to raise money for local businesses in the most

cost-efficient and effective way.

Since then, all these local stock exchanges have gone, with the last one finally closing in 1992 in Glasgow. The London Stock Exchange

effectively closed them as they didn't have a huge volume of transactions and thus trading was all then centered on the London Exchange. It's my

opinion that in the future there are other avenues we could explore to raise capital for new businesses. Answer? Why not harness local funding

from private investors who want to invest just a proportion of their portfolio locally. This can be created by regional platforms to list

evaluated companies needing investment and then link them with local investors willing to participate. So, for example, take a thousand

investors in the region, each with say, 10,000 pounds, that would provide a pool of 10 million pounds for a region without the need of a bank to

support it or their agreement and avoiding the London cost of floating and listing. Effectively, then, we're almost recreating these regional sources

of investment without the need for volumes of trading.

Once established, such regional funding structures would, if seen to be successful, not only just retain investment in an area, but also start

attracting inward investment as well. Result? Well, small companies get access to local, lower-cost funding from more reliable investors. Regions

retain and attract investment capital, and investors gain access to local investment opportunities. So what's not to like?

(END VIDEOCLIP)

QUEST: The Twitter bird is flying a little bit higher tonight. The company's reported second quarter results after the bell - 24 percent more

active users than last year, 29 more mobile users. Revenue and earnings both beat expectations. Samuel is here, our technology correspondent.

Well, Twitter's tweeting.

SAMUEL BURKE, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: All right, the Germans aren't the only ones who are happy about the World Cup. Now, we can tell that the

World Cup brought a big boost - not just because people were going to Twitter, but Twitter made a concerted effort to alert people when the game

was starting, alert people when there was a goal, and now Twitter has their own goal - almost up 35 percent, the stock.

QUEST: But did they make more money from all of this? Or are they just getting more people on it?

BURKE: They did make more money, much more than people expected from apps - advertisements - for other apps. That's how Facebook is doing it

too.

QUEST: Thank you, sir, Samuel - short and to the point. When we come back, we've heard about the dangers and the spread of Ebola virus. After

the break, we're going to be joined by Liberia's finance minister as they try to use all means possible to contain the virus. It's "Quest Means

Business." We're live tonight for you in New York. Good evening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Returning now to West Africa and the deadliest outbreak of Ebola in history. Liberia's finance minister joins me now on the line.

Amara Konneh's colleague from the finance ministry, Patrick Sawyer, died from Ebola a few days ago after flying from Liberia to Nigeria. Minister,

we must begin of course by offering you our condolences and our commiserations at what has been a personal loss for you, your country and

your department. But it's raising some very strong questions for you about - effectively, you're in a position now of having to lock down the country

to protect against anybody leaving the country who may be infected.

AMARA KONNEH, LIBERIAN FINANCE MINISTER MONROVIA, LIBERIA: Yes, Richard, thank you so much. You know, on behalf of the government, we

extend our condolences to the family of Mr. Sawyer and to the other Liberians who have lost their lives to this deadly virus. You're

absolutely correct. You know, we are concerned about this, I think what has happened now is to heighten the urgency around, you know, fighting this

deadly disease. And our government led by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is doing just that. The president has already formed an emergency

taskforce to tackle the outbreak.

QUEST: Right.

KONNEH: Liberia, as you know, Richard, is not the first African country to (inaudible) an Ebola outbreak and has the least number of death

of the three countries currently affected by it. Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

QUEST: Right.

KONNEH: However, this is a serious national health problem and we are following well-established international methods for containing it. So, we

know that this is not good for us, we are just emerging from a protracted conflict, rebuilding our economy -

QUEST: Right, but - let me -

KONNEH: -- beginning to (inaudible) -

QUEST: -- jump in here, sir.

KONNEH: -- address the needs of our people. And this is just a tragedy we must all address together.

QUEST: Let me jump in there - forgive me, sir. I just need to ask you though - how many measures and what measures can you take to prevent

anybody leaving the country. In the case of Mr. Sawyer, of course, he went on a plane from Liberia to Nigeria. And that, sir, is the big fear that

the rest of the world has - that somebody does leave the country who's infected and ends up in one of the major aviation hubs around the world.

KONNEH: Well, to answer your question specifically, we have put in place stringent measures at our international airport - the Roberts

International Airport. Beginning today, the airport authorities is instructed to use digital thermometers to scan passengers for fever.

QUEST: Right.

KONNEH: There is an accepted threshold set by our Ministry of Health that is now receiving support from Samaritan's Purse, from Medicins San

Frontier and the World Health Organization, and passengers who's fever above that threshold will be sent into -

QUEST: Right, but -

KONNEH: -- a room for further checks. Number two, the government has taken steps to present, you know, people who escort their relatives to the

airport from entering the airport.

QUEST: Minister, we need to leave it there for one moment. Thank you, sir. Please do come back again and talk about it - talk about this

more to us as we follow this. And obviously, again, our commiserations at the epidemic of the disease that's affecting your country. We'll be back

with more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

QUEST: Tonight's "Profitable Moment." It may be just about August but as you've heard from our program tonight, an extremely busy day,

whether it's the Ebola virus or the other issues we've been covering, or ICAO. We will continue to follow them very closely. And that's "Quest

Means Business" for tonight. I'm Richard Quest in New York. Whatever you're up to in the hours ahead, (RINGS BELL) hope it's profitable. I'll

see you tomorrow.

END