>>reporter the chinese weren't always big fans of a solar eclipse - for phenomena like this is usually seen as a harbinger of impending catastrophe. although the global economy is forecast to contract by 3 percent this year, no one here is moonstruck. that's because china is back on track again - its performance clearly eclipsing all others.

>>stephen green: >>stephen green: now industry, particularly steel is going gangbusters again. so it looks like china's recovering pretty much the strongest, the strongest recovery in the world at the moment. and we're looking for around 8 percent growth this year. >>reporter: politically and financially, china's ability to rebound so robustly sets it apart from the other bric group countries - brazil, russia and india. the bric four was actually once expected to reshape the global economy. but in today's extraordinary climate, that seems like wishful thinking in better times. this is the growth expected from china; while in neighbouring india, the economic fundamentals are also strong. but brazil has stumbled with no clear growth expected until 2010; and as for russia - over reliant on high commodity prices it now risks the spectre of high inflation and high unemployment. and the bric fault lines don't only concern numbers. for its members are fierce

competitors and serious mistrust abounds - which is a barrier to enhancing trade and economic cooperation. >>zweig: well the chinese don't trust the indians at all. the indians don't trust the chinese. the 1962 border war seared, forever seared, the brains of indian policy makers. brazilian businessmen complain, over the last couple of years that china came - hu jintao the leader of china visited - promised all kinds of money, left - and then everybody said, where's the money? >>reporter: it's one of those strange historical quirks that now, with their economies so interdependent, china can cooperate easier with america than with its neighbours. as for russia, it does little to garner confidence. the government appears hostile to capital while its military posture is aggressive - as if confidentthat the volatile great bear has oil and gas as leverage. but russia and other oil

exporters should be aware that the past year's global turmoil has focused the minds of some huge hydrocarbon consumers like china, which is now taking a great green leap forward - up the value chain. >>fuyong: when we were in school, we were told that there was only enough oil left for another 50 years -we need to develop new energy; it's also vital for the country's development. >>reporter mr c c

♪ in the still of the night ♪ in the still of the night not hot at creating service sectors. and this could hold china back, especially as its population is aging, unlike its nearest competitor, india.

>>green: there are very, very few privately run financial institutions here. and that's something that indiadoes spectacularly well at. there's a lot more innovation in the indian financial sector because it's privately driven. and even if you go to brazil, it's a wonderfully developed financial market already - even at this lesser stage of economic development. >>reporter: another downside to mainland china is its weak rule of law and a lack of media freedom. that said, an ambitious government stands by its plan to develop shanghai as an international financial centre on par with london and new york by 2020 and this is the time frame needed to determine the credibility of today's bric grouping as a force to reshape the global economy. beyond the financial crisis, countries early to adapt, innovate and cooperate in a world of depleting energy resources should grow in stature. which suggests that some emerging markets could be overshadowed - and that the new world order may need a new acronym. >>abirachad: in afghanistan women have been hiding behind the scenes for de

cades with only a few working outside their homes and making a tiny contribution to the economy. buta new breed of female entrepreneurs want to shake things up in one of the world's most conservativesocieties. >>reporter: this is anjela she is a serial entrepreneur from kabul one of her businesses is a furniture firm an ambitious young businesswoman, just 24years old she wants to be afghanistan's answer to richard branson. >>anjela: i have one wish to become in the future as a good businesswoman all the world knows me..because i know i can do it. >>reporter: her husband works for herrare in a country where women hardly step outside their homes or show theirfaces in public her dream would have not been possible few years ago during the taliban era. but today things are different. afghanistan's young female entrepreneurs are

hungry for success. anjela is one of sixty afghan womengraduated for the first time this summer from a goldman sachs sponsored school for female entrepreneurs the kabul programme is part of a global 100 million dollar initiative where women in developing countries receive a basic business education the 63 afghan graduates may be a small number by global standards but these women are slowly changing the ageold traditions in one of the world's most conservative countries the course taught the women everything from leadership and management to book keeping. >>o'connell: we originally put our applications out through the ministry of women's affairs and afghan women's business federation but in afghanistan word of mouth is critically important as a marketing tool - there was a pretty competitive application process we had about 300 applications in year one and we accepted 63 women

>>reporter: it is difficult to start a business in afghanistan because of poor access to credit there are few banks and many have to borrow money from their families for those who manage to secure a bank loan interest rates are around 20 percent many businesspeople use hawala, a trustbased money transfer system where local brokers deliver and receive cash. >> barkzai: we have a lot of provinces that there are no banks a lot of people are doing the hawala system, theprevious system which was before the banks were here in afghanistan - there is mobile banking system that you can send money through roschan mobile banking. >>reporter: laila is another graduate from the school. like many afghans she lived in pakistan for a few years during the taliban rule but she came back hoping to take advantge of kabul's new found prosperity

>>laila: the situation for businesswomen in afghanistan has gotten better.during the taliban times it was hard but when i came back from pakistan, it got better and it is improving all the time >>heikkila: afghanistan has a long way to go when it comes to businesswomen achieving their full potential but women like laila are feeling more optimistic about the future >>reporter: getting ready to open her shop in just over a week's timeanjela is also feeling the tide is changing >>anjela: now i am feeling that everything belongs to the women, when the women want to work there is no problem and want to provide some things, they can. >>reporter: anjela may be a role model for many young women but the afghan society still operates largely with tribal rules and ethnic divisions remain strong >>hamidi: normally people have just relationship with their own ethnicity - it's interesting in the mentoring they got different ideas from different backgrounds and environments its really important afghan

women know each other and get encouraged to move forward - >>reporter: afghanistan is country ravaged by decades of war and destruction the women here are ready to take the lead to help to build the country's economy and make it into a vibrant place for business. >>abirachad: still to come on world business... trying to find an end to the boom and bust cycle in australian mining towns by developing more sustainable sectors. rowing is growing in popularity with fans, but is still struggling to pull in the sponsors plus we check out a new micro thin loudspeaker that could revolutionize public spaces. ... and the rest in just a moment on world business >>abirachad: the mining sector has always

>>abirachad: the mining sector has always been cyclical in nature, but with fewer booms and more busts since the global economic downturn kicked in. nowhere is this more evident than in resource rich western australia, a state that is now looking at developing more sustainable sectors of the economy to support the area through the tough times. >>reporter there's a cold economic wind whipping through hopetoun these days. malcolm grant, the only landlord in town, now sees a lot fewer customers. >>grant: the company has made a decision to close the mine. as a result of the closure of the mine... the 2,500 people that arrived to live in our town as the residential work force. being comprised

of the employees, wives and children have had to leave the town and seek jobs elsewhere in australia and back in south africa. >>reporter bhp billiton's nickel mine at nearby ravensthorpe rose from the dust in 2004, opened its doors in 2008 and - abruptly closed them this year at a cost of over two billion us dollars. >>moore: nickel was very, very low and still is in the last 12 months, whereas prior to that it went through the roof. and so you had actually nickel mines being open and then having to close six months later.a classic case is ravensthorpe. >>flanagan: i think people are reconciled to the decision. i mean very soon after there was quite a lot of anger. people felt they had been sold a kind of a pipe dream. >>reporter: mining is a 32 billion us dollar a year industry for western australia and one

of the state's biggest, but the boombust cycles leave local economies at the mercy of global commodity prices. >>passmore: some of these towns have seen a big influx in investment as the commodity prices have gone up so in effect gold rush towns, even though they might not be in gold. >>reporter: so now the region is looking elsewhere for revenue and the top contender is tourism >>duffecy: it is never going to make up for the economic loss of the withdrawal of bhp billiton. tourism won't be able to provide the same level of employment that that mining company has provided. what it has got the opportunity to do is capitalise on its natural assets. and the fitzgerald river national parkis a fantastic asset. >>grant: it is one of the twelve or thirteen hotspots of biological diversity on the planet and is a large draw card for a number of tourists coming to visit the national park.

>>reporter: tourism in western australia brings in six billion us dollars a year, generates 80,000 jobs and fuels regional economies, but it's a fraction of what mining generates. yet there's a growing realisation that communities need to develop more sustainable industries alongside mining if they are to survive. >>ashcroft: if you are running a share portfolio you don't just buy one single share and hope that you are goingto hang in there. you're not. you buy a spread, so any community that is looking for some sort of sustainable future has got to look at a spread of ways in which it can economically sustain itself. >>flanagan: places like kalgoolie are probably a good example. kalgoolie is probably the most historic and the longest term mining town in western australia. it has issues in relation to say the boom and bust of the nickel industry, as well as the gold industry and several others. but what it has done is brought in other industries to underpin their economy and tourism is certainly one

of those. >>reporter: that's why matt cook now runs tours of kalgoolie's super pit. he moved out of mining five years ago and believes a better understanding of the industry has the potential to enlighten people especially after ravensthorpe. >>cook: if you're not involved in you really hear nothing about it apart from what you hear on the news. andof course a lot of the time with the news it can be not always the good news about mining. so for me what i am trying to achieve for the general public is to break down the barriers. >>cook: if there is enough planning in place before you have your ups and downs in the mining cycle. if you have a steady built industry in tourism then when it goes up or it goes down you are not really going to have too much of a problem.

>>grant: mining operations are driven purely by world economics. and mining operations are also not sustainable....in terms of tourism however, these landscapes and these values are potentially going to be here for the longer term.