From my going to your backyard or for better. Or for. A move. Into this it is. Starting to. Christmas is here and that means well big business for many will take a look at what retailers are expecting in europes biggest economy and all shoppers here in berlin to deal with the more frustrating parts of gift giving. Also on the show well look at chinas growing economic influence over the past year on its massive infrastructure spending. This is your Business Report im stephen bears in berlin thanks for joining us. Its one of the most important periods on the christian calendar and for the Business Books christmas time is critical for retailers above all who rely on strong sales to make up for slower parts of the year the good news in countries like the u. S. And germany is that fundamentally strong economies look to drive strong sales at the stores and online but there are also downsides clark wrapping presents 3 shifts a day thats all these employees do here at a Department Store in central berlin and the close of christmas looms the more frenetic the pace. City books c. D. s films and bouncers theyre the classic gets people buying a last minute rush were expecting this year to be a record breaker caught could be. The German Retailers Association says nationwide turnover in november topped 100000000000 euros december is expected to top that again good news for the Retail Sector in the Christmas Shopping bottom line continues to trend upwards people enjoy giving gifts the mood is good conditions generally good with the economy and employment consumers have more money in their pockets and thats of course reflected in buying behavior and minds 100. 00 the mood is especially buoyant in online retail. Yeah after white holes in the year 2019 was another boom year we handled a total of around 3600000000. 00 parcels and thats 19000000. 00 a day at the christmas peak in 4 days that would be enough to stretch from the north to the cellphone pole the poor. The euphoria isnt exactly reflected in the queues at the parcel collection stations as if it was delivered to the shop the day before yesterday and now today after i stood in line for an hour they tell me its not here they just cant cope with the volume of whats a few theres no system sometimes its delivered here sometimes its dropped off there or somewhere else again each time you have to look all over the place but the cheek of it when youre waited at home and they say they couldnt reach you its an outreach. The road to christmas can be rocky and everyone would like to find solutions to this chaos so how to get so many possibles to their recipients their good decision is off there are different possibilities autonomous driving might be a solution but also underground Traffic Networks or drones in more remote areas and seems there is no limit to what people can wish for christmas. On a process that works part time as a hopeful christmas elf she knows a lot about customer wishes they reflect current anxieties. Here not theirs climate recently there is demand for books about climate i think thats cool but also conscious cooking and sustainability not just guide it seems like the checkout counter is groaning under the weight of gift wrapped times exhorting more moderate consumption. Ever more of this im joined in studio by d. W. Business reporter to ponder jim below par you and i were talking about this earlier record retail sales are expected this year in germany but same time german retailers are happy why no they arent happy and thats ass leave because they could actually make less money this year than they did last year and theyre facing a lot of competition from you know online retailers. And the bigger chains like zara and edge and am a lot of the activity these days happens on black friday and cyber monday so a lot of people that we saw in that report long lines you know outside the path so you know play places big apostles and you know packages but obviously those lines are not in the stores as were going to record retail sales but maybe not for individual or independent retailers maybe big box or all liars exactly of course and thats the reason why they are really concerned theyre losing business and you looked into this how much is the average german spends on christmas you know quite a bit actually i was quite surprised because its way more than i would have a spend 475. 00 euros per head so thats a lot of money out say that sounds like a lot but i guess if you break it down its really actually does it make sense or have you looked at it i mean of course people are buying gifts for maybe as many as 10 family members sometimes it depends on who youre buying gifts for i wouldnt spend that much because i say i have a no gift policy for people who have jobs and. So i leave them money for very like you know my nephews and people like that and so youre not like its a good german here spending 475. 00 i gather thats gone up as german consumption maybe has gone up in the domestic economy she wanted to take a look at the numbers for us thank you very much business. Hoover cofounder Travis Kalanick will lead the Ride Sharing Company at the end of the year colonic was pushed out as chief executive 2 years ago and made revelations about controversial Business Practices who resigned from the board of directors effective december 31st a colonic is also selling 90 percent of his shares which will let him 2500000000. 00 he says he wants to focus on other ventures other ventures that is good in new Investment Vehicle focused on real estate ecommerce and innovation in china and india. And china is where we go right now 2019 saw the continued growth of the countrys global influence despite a slowing economy china now has the largest diplomatic corps in the world reflection of its increasingly vocal protection of its own interests as well as its growing investments around the world though many of those investments are part of the socalled belts and Road Initiative a series of major infrastructure product projects designed to smooth trade with the nation on the map its easy to see the new silk road as its also known as china has rapidly been building since 2013 beijing has invested in harbors railways roads and Power Infrastructure and more than 60 countries now with this Network China want to secure export markets as well as the access to Raw Materials for a long time china has shown a keen interest in germany and thats led to the influx of more than 38000000000 euros of direct Chinese Investment sense 2005 other cording Companies DevelopingInnovative Technologies which could also be interesting for the Chinese Market according to a study by the bettles Mon Foundation the technologys particularly in demand include automated drive Systems Energy systems Biomedical Technology and machine engineering. These are cooling and heating units buildings soon theyll be shipped to the u. S. Pakistan bangladesh and mexico the manufacturer broad group a company headquartered in hunan china specializes in Energy Efficient air conditioning in the next few years the firm with more than 3000 employees hopes to further expand aided by chinas belgian road investment scheme. Road opens a new space the growth in the world economy. It creates a new platform for International Trade and investment and provides new ways of Global Economic governance and contributes to the wellbeing of people in many countries. Sometimes called the new silk road the built in Road Initiative is a massive Infrastructure Investment scheme new railways are intended to provide better connectivity across the eurasian continent investment in towards open new Maritime Trading routes according to official figures the total value of projects already signed exceeds 500000000000. 00 us dollars. The projects are largely carried out by Chinese State owned firms theyve gained experience with big Construction Projects during chinas own infrastructure push of the past 40 years but there was criticism of the international initiative. Many western countries including germany are reluctant to sign bilateral bilton wrote agreements concerns for participating partner countries range from the environmental cost to sustainability of debt levels in some places china friendly governments have been voted out of office in view of chinas own mega construction boom critics call many of the Chinese Investment projects overambitious. Biggest lesson for the Chinese Government was that you cannot just go ahead and build what you want you have to consider what local governments and people want and how the International Community reacts. If you ask where the backlash is in some of those countries came as a surprise to the Chinese Government. I would say it was not just a surprise it was a shock and that. So far International Trade rules have been shaped by western countries Chinese Companies like broad hope that through its massive investments china will gain a greater say in these rules to make them better sir. Chinese business. Chinese ambitions are on the table its now up to the rest of the world to react. And for more on this lets cross over toward correspondent in thai paid so dong han so nice to see you as always so you saw that report what are chinas ambitions with the belt Road Initiative well to eventually get more influence and control in the world we know this from another name of the project that is the silk role is the Engine Network of trade routes that connected china and the roman empire and many societies in between so the modern version in vision by chinese president xi jinping goes further to partner with more countries in asia europe and africa and beyond so that is Chinese Governments biggest ambition. So you mentioned the original silk road linking as far as the roman empire what about this version of the silk road what role does europe play in it. Well as part of chinas plan we know some belkin countries or eventually become e. U. Member state some as early as 2025 so china is using its companies to fill in the Development Gaps in this cash strapped countries to get more influence so lets stay with these infrastructure spilled by china in the well spell concerns china can ship its goods from greek to the west into e. U. Common market of over half 1000000000 consumers that of course leads to political remicade ramifications when it comes to integration of those european nations into the e. U. How about now this year as chinas economy has slowed has slowed these ambitions at all. While not really country to that china has left for war on infrastructure related projects in other countries and sent its workers have brought not only that china has it new project called digital silk or old to promote its Biggest TelecomCompany Huawei so all these projects are considered to be a acknowledging boost for the chinese economy. Those on hand joining us there in taipei thank you very much. And thats it from me and the Business Team here in berlin for more business is you can of course find us online dot com slash business or follow us on social media im Stephen Beardsley n. P. R. Lead thanks for watching. Listen as play by unchecked real estate speculation. Historian in the city is fighting back her strongest weapon. Shops with history. Its meant to protect businesses with traditions from the speculators. Shops with his story. Next d. W. In the height of climate change. Africas may soon see. Whats in store for. Months to come for the future to. Come for to make a city. Inside. Counter. Lisbon has become a must see Tourist Destination the citys annual 4500000 visitors now strip its population by around 9 to one International Investors are pumping billions of euros into real estate the city is one big building site this woman is trying to keep one component of her city from being destroyed in the process its historic shops as large as they are lisbons heart and soul there its a living memory. I shop at the same