Good morning! Morning Minutes is a round-up of stories that will break on Thursday (Jan 12) and which we think you'd be interested in.

It appears on weekdays, available by 7am.

Forum on rail infrastructure

Rail engineering and maintenance issues will take centre stage today (Jan 12) at a joint forum organised by the Land Transport Authority , operators SBS Transit and SMRT, and the PUB.

At the opening address of the 3rd Joint Forum On Infrastructure Maintenance, Mr Pang Kin Keong, Permanent Secretary for Transport, will speak on LTA's initiatives to improve rail reliability, and developments in asset maintenance and management.

Japanese PM Abe to visit the Philippines

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe travels to the Philippines today (Jan 12), the first leg of a six-day, four-nation regional tour that will also take him to Australia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Mr Abe will hold talks with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as the first head of state to visit the country in 2017. The tour is aimed at strengthening security cooperation in the face of China's maritime assertiveness, as well as combating the threat of terrorism.

Business survey results out today

Auditing and advisory firm KPMG is scheduled to release today (Jan 12) the results of a survey that shows it is not all doom and gloom among businesses in the current downturn. Many respondents believe that the economic slowdown is partly cyclical, with almost half of them looking at ways to innovate, such as by adopting new models of business and entering new markets.