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Connect the World

Ukrainian MP: "No Words" for Dam Breach Disaster; PGA Tour, DP World Tour & LIV Golf Forming Partnership; Protest in France over Pension Reform; Blinken Expected to Meet with Saudi Crown Prince; U.N. Climate Talks Kick Off in Germany; Wall Street's Top Regulators Suing Coinbase. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired June 06, 2023 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST: Well, this hour it's a blame game in Russia's war against Ukraine as both sides point fingers after a dam burst in the

Kherson region. We'll be speaking with a Ukrainian lawmaker who witnessed the flooding for him.

Also in your headlines this hour breaking news from the world of golf, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf forming a commercial partnership

ending a bitter feud between the organizations but leaving major questions over how golf will be organized going forward.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expected to meet the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman later today the latest play in Washington's

quest to improve relations with the Gulf state that is after the Kingdom made voluntary cuts to oil production at the weekend.

And it is the 14th day of protests across France over pension reforms. Unions making a last ditch effort to prevent the government raising the

retirement age from 62 to 64. And also this hour, crucial talks are ongoing in Germany drawing a roadmap for climate change action. We will be speaking

with one of the key decision makers and negotiators.

Welcome back to "Connect the World". This is the second hour of the show. Echoes side that is the word being used by Ukrainian officials to describe

the destruction of a major dam on the Dnipro River people in the Kherson area are evacuating as floodwaters raise fears also that the Zaporizhzhia

Nuclear Power Plant can be at risk. Nuclear safety officials do say there is no immediate risk there.

Well, Kyiv blames Russian forces for blowing up the Nova Kakhovka Dam in a panic, while Moscow says it was destroyed in a serious terrorist attack.

Either way, a torrential flow of water spilling right on to the front lines so tonight we ask how will this burst dam affect the people of Ukraine and

affect the war?

Well, one Ukrainian MP who got a look at the flooding in the Kherson region today tweeting, there are no words to describe the scale of this disaster.

Oleksiy Goncharenko has now moved on from Kherson. He joins us live from neighboring Mykolaiv. Sir, it's good to have you with us as you understand

it what happened?

OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Russia blown up the dam of healthcare hydroelectric station and by these calls to know full

ecological and technical catastrophe and also committed a war crime because now thousands of people who lives on the banks of a Dnieper river are under

danger.

And already many hundreds are evacuated from the right bank of the Dnieper River from the City of Kherson where I just was hour ago which this part is

controlled by Ukraine and also people who are on the opposite bank on the left bank of new Dnieper River, which is today controlled by Russia, that

these people are also endangered their lives.

[11:05:00]

ANDERSON: Let's be quite clear. This is your assessment, as you understand it about what happened. It is possible that the dam collapsed due to

structural failure rather than it being deliberately blown up by one side or the other. And so let's just be quite clear about that at the moment.

GONCHARENKO: I am sorry but I want to --

ANDERSON: What evidence do you have at this point?

GONCHARENKO: I want to add now evidences we have 70 years this dam was standing. 70 years before Russian army came. And now it collapsed. Also, we

know for sure that Russia minded and they said it openly.

We have a lot of video recordings, and Russian military was saying that the dam is mined by Russians. The third thing, the dam was not shot there was

no shelling on the dam from Ukrainian side. But just in the night, it collapsed. So the explosion was inside the dam.

So it's absolutely clear. And the dam is controlled by Russians today. It was controlled before it collapsed. So I'm sorry, but I can speak

absolutely, directly and for hundred percent, that it was destroyed by Russians. There is no other way how this could happen.

ANDERSON: CNN spoke to the Ukraine Minister of Economy earlier on today. Sir, I just want to play some sound from that interview for you and our

viewers have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YULIA SVYRYDENKO, UKRAINIAN ECONOMY MINISTER: Honestly, they act like a terroristic state. And no one can predict their actions. And that's why

we're you know, ask you also to have the small talk with you.

As we would like to say that there are huge losses of our economy, there are huge losses, in sense of people. So that's why what we need to do is

just to strength, your support, and not to afraid Russia, and to keep fighting together with Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I must just press you on this. I understand that you've just suggested there is evidence. But again, I press you on this, specifically,

what evidence do you have that this was an attack by Russia?

GONCHARENKO: We're absolutely showing this. And there is no other way how this could happen? And I already gave you evidence of some of this, and why

they did it. But I want to remind you, that Russia is committing crimes, all during all this war.

They're destroying infrastructure. They deliberately attacked energy infrastructure, power grids. So unfortunately, it's absolutely in Russian

playbook what they did today. They don't care about nature. They don't care about people. They act as barbarians. And why they did it.

And probably they are afraid of Ukraine offensive. And they tried to destroy the only way the only bridge because this dam was also the bridge

which connected the right bank, which is controlled by Ukraine and the left bank, which is today controlled by Russia.

And probably they are aware afraid that Ukraine can use this dam as a breach in order to repel them from the left bank and to liberate our

territories. And they didn't find anything better than to just destroy.

And I want to remind you that according to Geneva Convention, to destroy such hydro -- such hydroelectric station, it equals their usage of mass

destruction weaponry, so it equals of using nukes because it's absolutely non selective. It puts under danger thousands of people that huge

territory, including the Black Sea.

ANDERSON: Sir, it's good to have you on thank you very much indeed for joining us. The MP from the Odessa region who was able to witness the

destruction at that dam earlier on today as we say, close to thousand people have been evacuated a very difficult situation there. Thank you,

sir.

Well, PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf are forming a commercial partnership which will end the litigation between these groups. As you may

recall, some famous golfers like Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka have been wooed by the Saudi backed golf tournaments for big money.

Well, the PGA all the long established golfing organization had fought back in court against this new league but now it seems the parties have come to

an agreement.

[11:10:00]

Let's drill down a little bit here because this is a big story. Let's bring in Don Riddell from CNN World Sport. Just explain what we understand to be

the details of this combination if you can, please Don?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hey, Becky, I think to be honest, we, as journalists, and reporters, and fans are still learning the details. And

more significantly, I think the players are still learning some of the details, I think everybody has been completely taken by surprise by these

developments.

And it would appear on the surface to end what has been a really, really unpleasant and prolonged civil war within the game of men's professional

golf. And it has got pretty ugly between the tours between some of the players and the tours over the last 12 months as you say, with all this

litigation, so many people and organizations all suing each other.

It's been a complete mess, and it has robbed the game of some of the biggest names and certainly some of the biggest personalities. Guys like

Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Phil Mickelson, who kind of largely disappeared from view over the last 12 months.

But now it seems as though they're all getting back together, kind of sort of, we don't exactly know yet how this is going to work out. But as I think

you just said all litigation will now end. I've been learning that after this season, players who were ostracized by the PGA Tour and the European

Tour sorry the DP World Tour as it's now known, will be allowed to reapply to the tours they were originally on if they would like to do so.

And I guess we're at a point where we might have been a year ago, because there was talk last summer that perhaps something could all be worked out.

And perhaps this new tour could coexist with the legacy established tools. But that didn't happen.

Perhaps now that can happen. It's going to be really interesting to see how it all plays out, to be honest; we don't know exactly how it's going to

work out. This story literally broke about an hour and 10 minutes ago. And I honestly don't think that many people were aware this was coming until it

landed.

ANDERSON: Yes, I mean, so much controversy about the emergence of the LIV tournament, not least the enormous amount of money that was thrown at it by

the by Saudi backers. I guess, at this point and, you know, without the full detail.

And then, you know, the complete sort of, you know, works in front of you. You know, and I understand it's difficult to really get yet, you know, to

really understand what's going on here, but let's just try this one. Is there a clear winner in this?

RIDDELL: Well, I've already heard some people say that golf is the winner. Golf fans should be happy, because they now get to see all their favorite

players playing at the same time on the same course in the same tournament.

So that's good. I mean, it'd be hard to argue against the rebel players who join the LIV Tour of being winners because they were paid eye watering

amounts of money tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.

And while they were on the tour, they were able to earn up to $5 million in a single week. I mean, guys don't even earn that in the majors. But they

were earning that playing three rounds, in tournaments that hardly anybody was watching. So the LIV guys have made an absolute fortune, some of them,

and now they can all shake hands, and it's kind of all over. So arguably, they are the winners.

Some people would say that the Saudis are the winners. Again, we don't really know how this is all going to kind of shake out. But, you know, they

were accused of throwing an absolute ton of money at the game of professional golf, in the pursuit of sports washing.

That was the criticism that has been made. And they have been roundly criticized for doing that. And the players that went to join them have been

roundly criticized for doing that. If now, in the end, they get a seat at the table and they become equal partners with the legacy golf tours.

Was that a win for the Saudis and the public investment fund? Arguably, it is? Is anyone a loser? I don't know. I personally am really interested to

see what happens to the Ryder Cup. It's one of my favorite sports events, period happens every two years.

And that event looked like it was going to be destroyed by this particularly on the European side. They had to replace their Captain Henrik

Stenson; Luke Donald came in to replace him because Stenson had gone to the LIV tour.

Legacy European players guys like Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter basically told you're never going to be playing or representing the European team

ever again. And that was absolutely heartbreaking for them. So does this now mean they can come back in?

Is this all going to happen in time for this year's Ryder Cup in Rome, which is now only just a few months away? I don't know. But I think a lot

of people will be happy if the Ryder Cup is salvaged because that seems as though it could be absolutely destroyed by this situation.

[11:15:00]

ANDERSON: Yes, and it's, you know, it's a really entertaining part of the sport, isn't it? And I mean, if it's about entertainment one, I would hope

that it is sort of, you know, its reputation. And its, you know, its ability for success will be maintained going forward.

Just very briefly I have to ask you, because you talk to golfers all the time, how destructive was this for relationships between golfers who are

after all, I mean, they sort of grow up on the tour, they tend to know each other really, really well? What's the sort of, you know, what's the back-

story here?

RIDDELL: Well, it seemed as though last summer when I was covering the PGA Championship in the U.S. Open when this was the only talk or the press

conferences before those events. It seemed as though it was quite destructive.

And you had guys like Rory McIlroy and Gerry McIlroy in particular, really calling out the players who were moving to LIV. And then you had some of

those LIV players suing the tours. And it kind of got personal between some of them.

Behind the scenes who knows what was really going on but it was noticeable at the Masters this year that a lot of the players who'd taken a principled

stand a moral stand on this, they didn't want to talk about it anymore. Some of them like McIlroy even admitted that it had been impacting their

performance on the golf course.

And what was also interesting at the Masters, having had several months for this all to shake out, a lot of the golfers were saying look, we're still

friends, we will still live in Florida in the same neighborhoods, we still see each other all the time, you know, none of that's really changed.

And a lot of them are saying it's frankly nice to see each other again, because there was a period where they would only run into each other at the

majors because at all other times they were on different tours. So I think for most of them, it will probably be quite easy to move on.

I think most of them will be quite glad, frankly, that this is all over and they can now just get back to playing and talking about golf. I think there

were some players in all of this who ruffled feathers anyway, and they ruffled even more feathers by doing this.

I don't think those relationships can be repaired quite as easily. But I think in the main, I think everybody's just glad this is over. And I

suspect a lot of these friendships were never really that badly damaged anyway.

ANDERSON: I'll let you go because I know that you are you know, you need to work your sources on this one to get more detail, but it's been great

having you on this is a big story. And it's just breaking of course in the past hour or so. Thank you.

Protests breakout all across France just ahead a live look at the unrest over pension reform measures in that country. And for the first time in

more than 130 years a Senior British Royal has taken the witness stand. Prince Harry's historic day in court is just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. You're watching "Connect the World" with me, Becky Anderson and you are looking at live pictures from Paris this hour. This is

the 14th day of protests across France over pension reforms. Unions angry that the government raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

That is some video from a bit earlier, protesters stormed the Olympic headquarters in Paris. It is estimated that 600,000 people will protest

today, which is less than the protest on May the first. CNN's Melissa Bell had reported from that protests and from many of these in what has been

this, this litany of protests, if you will. What are unions hoping to achieve today, Melissa, is it clear at this point?

MELISSA BELL, CNN PARIS CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this stage Becky, it's no longer about stopping this particular reform of the raising of the

retirement age in France from 62 to 64. That is happening. It'll happen in September. There'll be a last ditch attempt on Thursday, and the parliament

is trying to stop it. But the government the executive has already found a way past that a mechanism that allows it to get it passed.

So this reform will become law. And the main union has said that they believe this will be the last big day of protests. I think this was much

more about showing that six, these last six months again, the anger is still out there. And probably what these unions are likely to do is regroup

in September because of course, Emmanuel Macron, for his last four years, has a lot of other reforms planned.

And this is a country where people take to the streets and they do so fairly easily Becky, to such an extent the young journalists here can

essentially earn a living just from following the protests.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (voice over): Another pitched battle between protesters and police in the heart of Paris. The image is captured by a journalist who's made this

his specialty. Clement Lanot has covered every major French protest for the last seven years. His focus is to document the many uprisings against the

government and tell the stories of the anger behind them. The money is there, says one protester, we just have to go and get it.

Traveling across the city, the protesters hush each other as they get closer to the euro next Stock Exchange. There they pause, then charge.

Through the flares in the smoke that engulf the building lobby the sound of anger at the French president, shocking scenes but for Paris, nothing new.

The protests against the government's upping of the pension age from 62 to 64 are just the latest round to draw people to the streets.

CLEMENT LANOT, VIDEO JOURNALIST: In Paris, there are protests almost every day some smaller, some bigger because in France, we're used to it as soon

as something goes wrong, the French protest.

BELL (voice over): The hardest to cover, he says where the yellow vests protests of 2019 and 2020.

LANOT: The police, the protesters, we've never seen protests that violent. Everyone was a little shaken, everyone was a little changed.

BELL (voice over): Over the years, the 25-year-olds has been on the receiving end of rubber bullets, police batons and angry tussles with

protesters. Being a journalist is little protection he says.

LANOT: Several times I found myself in the middle of the police charges. They hit me with their shields even though they could see I was a

journalist and they could have avoided me.

BELL (voice over): But despite the dangers, images like these have been earning Lanot a decent living for the last seven years, covering hundreds

of protests, he says.

LANOT: Once the demonstration is over, everyone goes home and life goes back to normal. You'll probably see bus stops that have been shattered, but

life goes on. And everything is OK for the Parisians who go back out for a walk when the protest is done.

BELL (voice over): In a city where the culture of protest runs deep, it's just another day and another cleanup of the streets of the French capitol.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL: Certainly, Becky, this latest round of protests over the pension reform does appear to be drawing to a close petering out. And this may well

be the last big day of protests over that. So the government essentially has got what he wanted its reform, six months of protests you could have

done without.

But it appears that it has won in terms of what it wanted getting this particularly controversial reform through and seeing this movement at peace

route with time, Becky.

[11:25:00]

ANDERSON: Melissa Bell on the story for you. While high drama in a soft voice Prince Harry being asked to speak up during his courtroom showdown

with the UK tabloid press, the senior British royal heading into court earlier and then taking the witness stand and what is his landmark lawsuit

against Mirror Group Newspapers a major UK newspaper publisher.

Harry alleges his phone was hacked to gather information about his private life over the years. And Jen is contesting those claims. Well, let's bring

in CNN's Nada Bashir, who is outside the UK High Court in central London. And historic in that Prince Harry is in the witness stand being cross

examined. What did we hear from him today? And where does this case stand at this point?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Look Becky, this is totally a story day, we've seen Prince Harry facing a fierce round of questions from the lawyers

representing the Mirror Group Newspapers. Questions over what evidence there is to support Prince Harry's claim and the claim of dozens more

people suing MGN over the questions around unlawful information gathering namely phone hacking the interception of voicemails, as well as the use of

private investigators.

And other unlawful means to glean private intimate details released in articles published by MGN publications between the early 1990s and 2011.

Over the course of the last few hours, we've seen the defense lawyers running through a number of articles listed as part of Prince Harry's play.

Questioning depends on which exact aspects he believes led him and his lawyers to believe that these were gleaned unlawfully including details

around of course his travel, his relationships conversations. Prince Harry has been speaking in court. It has been interesting to hear his response to

seeing those details that come to light around conversations he's had with other senior members of the royal family.

The ups and downs of his relationship with a former girlfriend Chelsy Davy, events around his childhood as well events surrounding his late mother

Diana, the Princess of Wales. These are all of course, deeply personal matters to Prince Harry. He has spoken openly about this in the past about

his wish to reform the media landscape.

He's spoken in the court about his difficult relationship with Britain's tabloid press. And he did, of course speak about the impact this has had on

his life both as a child and a teenager, but also presently he spoke about this leading him to feel a sense of paranoia his circle of friends growing

smaller and smaller over the years.

As a result of private information being shared in these tabloid papers as well as the bouts of depression he suffered as a result of the comments

being made in these papers. Now according to the lawyers representing MGN, they have brought into question some of Prince Harry's claims they

questioned why he is taking issue with the Mirror Group Newspapers as opposed to other newspaper publications, which released similar articles.

They have cited even quotes from the palace statements released from the palace at the time questioning whether or not some of this information was

in fact already in the public eye as opposed to the claims being made by Prince Harry that they were obtained via unlawful practices.

And also, of course, questions around the impact that's really hard on Prince Harry. Some of the articles of course, were released when he was

very young. Andrew Green, the lawyer representing him -- question whether he'd even had read these articles before this claim was brought to the

court this year.

So this is a significant trial. And Jen, of course maintained that it's contesting of this claim they believe that no wrongdoing occurred at this

time of the publication of these articles. They also believe there simply isn't any evidence that Prince Harry was directly hacked. But of course,

this is a deeply personal matter for Prince Harry.

He has spoken vocally in the past in his memoir spare in his Netflix Docu series, this is something he wants to pursue in order to transform reform,

the media landscape here in Britain, Becky.

ANDERSON: Nada, thank you. America's top diplomat is trying to mend fences with Saudi Arabia. Still ahead on "Connect the World" tonight what's in

play is Antony Blinken sits down with the kingdom's Crown Prince. And climate negotiators meeting for the first time in Germany since last year's

COP27 summit, but there seems little optimism for progress. We'll explain why, up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:30:00]

ANDERSON: Welcome back, you're with "Connect the World". I'm Becky Anderson. The time here in Abu Dhabi is just after half past seven. A short

time from now U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will arrive in Saudi Arabia and normalization between the Gulf giant and Israel is top of his

agenda.

The U.S. has been doggedly pursuing a deal hoping to build a bridge between two of its key Middle Eastern allies. But it is a hard road ahead. Saudi

has been very public in its reservations about Israel, which is now being led by the most right wing government in the country's history.

Violence between the Palestinians and the Israelis is at its highest level in decades. And the kingdom is unlikely to come to the table without steep

security assurances from the United States. Well, CNN's Alex Marquardt is in Washington.

We heard from Antony Blinken, talking about the importance to his mind and to the Biden Administration of deepening ties between Arab States and

Israel. And the kingdom top of the Biden Administration's list when it comes to the next, the next country, they hope to normalize relations with

Israel. Can you just explain why that is and what chance Antony Blinken has in making any progress on that file?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Becky, it's not likely to happen in the immediate future. But clearly, it is

something that the U.S. thinks is very much possible. We have to remember that these are not just bilateral agreements between Israel and these four

Arab countries known as the Abraham accords.

The U.S., of course, very much a central player in all of this, but not this administration, this was one of the biggest diplomatic victories of

the previous administration, the Trump Administration. This was an effort that was driven by one of the former President's top advisors, Jared

Kushner, his son in law.

And so what ended up happening was you had Israel normalizing relationships with four Arab countries, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. And now at

the top of the priority list for one of the next countries to normalize with Israel is indeed Saudi Arabia.

This is one of the rare areas that you hear the Biden Administration, you hear the State Department praising the previous administration. So this is

something that the Tony Blinken and the rest of the State Department have been working on quite feverishly.

And they're trying to figure out ways to essentially sweeten the deal and make it more appealing for Saudi Arabia to do particularly. Because as you

say, Becky right now, there is one of the most Right Wing governments if not the most right wing government in Israeli history. And that will make

much of the Arab world and much of the Saudi population against a normalization agreement like this.

[11:35:00]

But it's not just to create more peace in the Middle East. It is the according to the U.S. and the Biden Administration, something that would

also strengthen U.S. national security. Here's what Secretary Blinken had to say yesterday, when speaking to APAC, which, of course, is one of the

more powerful pro-Israel lobbying groups here in the United States. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States has a real national security interest in promoting normalization between Israel and

Saudi Arabia. We believe that we can, and indeed, we must play an integral role in advancing it. Now there no illusions that this can be done quickly

or easily, but we remain committed to working toward that outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So you're going to say there, they have no illusions that this is going to happen quickly or easily. We certainly do not expect Blinken to

walk away from Saudi Arabia, this trip this three day trip, with any kind of signed agreement, for example, but they are looking to make progress.

And they're going to make progress by easing the tension that we have seen growing over the past few months between the Biden Administration and Saudi

Arabia, most notably the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman or MBS, who the Biden Administration squarely accuses of being behind the murder of Jamal

Khashoggi at the same time, the Biden Administration has given MBS immunity from prosecution.

So Becky, among the topics that they're going to be discussing, of course, directly this normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, but also more

generally, security cooperation, economic cooperation, and nuclear cooperation. Becky, this comes at a time when China is also trying to have

more of a say, in the region.

Of course, they brokered that agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, arch enemies in the region, to reestablish relations for each country to among

other things, reopen their embassies in each country. That is something that Iranian state media said Iran would be doing this week in Saudi

Arabia.

So Tony Blinken set to land in Jeddah in just a few hours' time and U.S. official traveling with the Secretary saying that he will indeed be meeting

as early as today with the Crown Prince upon his arrival, Becky.

ANDERSON: Alex, always a pleasure, thank you. And you can take an even deeper dive on what's happening inside Saudi Arabia, in our Middle East

newsletter that is on cnn.com. Find out why the Kingdom needs more than just oil revenues to fuel its grand plans and how it is trying to bring in

billions in foreign direct investment to fund those projects.

You can sign up to the newsletter there as you can see, below me on the screens. Coming up on "Connect the World" it is hard to be optimistic about

the world when the threat of climate change keeps increasing, but the leader of the upcoming COP28 summit in Dubai has a very different view.

I'll be speaking to the DG about that coming up next.

Plus we are following a crypto clamped down the U.S. government is suing Coinbase just one day after taking action against another crypto exchange.

What this means for consumers is later this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:00]

ANDERSON: We are officially at the halfway point to COP28, the largest international UN climate conference to be hosted right here in the UAE

later this year. And there is an awful lot to be done. To start with simply laying down the groundwork and assessing where we are at, at this point

crucial talks kicked off on Monday in Germany at the Bonn Climate Change Conference.

This is the first time negotiators and diplomats meet since COP27 last November in Sharm el-Sheikh where they agreed to set up a loss and damage

fund for poor countries that was seen as a breakthrough agreement in Egypt. But the implementation of that fund and other solutions from the last

summit has yet to be fully completed.

So this 10 day conference is a chance to check in on progress towards our climate goals crucially, through what is known as UN's global stock take.

To put it simply the global stock take is a review of the world's response to climate change to ensure countries are implementing the pledges of the

2015 Paris agreement.

That review has been ongoing now for two years. And will enter its final discussions stage at on before completion in Dubai's COP28 mark in the UN's

first global stock take of pledges in COP history. And that is why my next guest says COP28 will be the most important COP after Paris when that

climate agreement was historically signed.

In a recent interview he said and I quote, "They want a cop that is going to deliver real big game changing results because they see just like all of

us that we are not on track to achieve the goals of Paris. We need to have everybody at the table discussing with us about how to deliver that".

The Director General of COP28 Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi joins me now live from the climate change conference in Bonn in Germany. You are effectively

at sort of the UN's climate headquarters, if we can describe it as such.

And you have experience significant experience in being part of the negotiations in Paris back in 2015, which is why it's important to discuss

with you how disappointing it is that we have not got a final agenda for discussions in Bonn, which of course, clouds optimism about what might be

achieved at COP28. Where are the lines of contention, sir? And what do you believe the priorities should be?

MAJID AL-SUWAIDI, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, COP28: Well, Becky, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be here today. It's a real pleasure to be

with you. I, as is mentioned, was the chief negotiator for the UAE during the Paris Climate Agreement. And, you know, it's definitely disappointing

that today, we're off track from the goals and ambitions of Paris.

What's going to make COP28 a really important cop is the fact that we're hosting this global stock take, which will tell us that we're not on track

to achieving those goals. But what's really important is that we say about where we're going and what we're going to do to get back on track.

And as you know, the UAE is really ambitious about the outcome that we want to deliver in the UAE. We have been really focused on how we address the

emissions gap that we have. We know that today that we have a 43 percent emissions gap to achieving those goals.

What are the real things that we're going to do on the ground? What the actions that countries can take, we're really focused on the solutions on

the actions on making sure that we bring everybody together to deliver the solutions that will get us there. We're also mandated to deliver on the

global goal of adaptation, and doubling of adaptation finance.

You know, this is really critical for many developing countries and vulnerable states that are seeing the impacts of climate change, and of

course, from Sharm el-Sheikh. We had that great landmark outcome of the loss and damage fund which we hope to operationalize in COP28 in the UAE.

Underpinning all of this going to be the finance discussion and how do we mobilize the finance. We had a promise in Paris of 100 billion.

[11:45:00]

And although we've seen in recent weeks, developed countries saying how that they plan to deliver that 100 billion, there's still ways to go to

ensure that we understand how that's going to happen. But moreover, how are we going to get to the trillions of dollars that need to be mobilized in

climate action, to help us to achieve the goals of Paris.

Bonn is a very, very important session, it's very important that the, the negotiators make progress this week. And we're here encouraging them to

really get down working and helping us to deliver the COP28 that will make a huge difference in our plans and our progress towards achieving the goals

of Paris by 2030.

ANDERSON: Neither you nor the President Designate of COP28, that is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber believed that the fossil fuel industry will undermine

meaningful talks on emission cuts. To those who want to see a phasing out of fossil fuels entirely, you say what?

AL-SUWAIDI: I think that what's important is to focus on how we solve for the problem, and that is the problem of emissions. And we can't do that by

being exclusive. We need to be that by, do that by being inclusive. That means bringing everybody to the table, bringing people from industry,

bringing people from the NGOs, civil societies, from business from government.

And yes, from sectors like oil and gas to come to cop to tell us what their solutions are. We're being very open and inclusive. We're welcoming

everybody to COP28. And we're saying please come; please help us to find solutions. Becky, you know, we have very, very big challenges here when it

comes to climate change discussion.

I mentioned earlier, we have these big emissions targets that we need to get to reductions. We need to get to our big finance targets that we need

to get to lots of things we need to do around loss and damage around adaptation. We need everybody at the table with all their solutions. We

need everybody coming together in a unified way to deliver the big results that we need to see for a success as we move forward.

ANDERSON: And your critics will suggest that it is not possible for a country built on oil and gas that is still intent on increasing production

at this point. It is not possible that they will play a role in ensuring that the world is free of carbon emissions or at least get to a net zero

level on carbon emissions going forward. Again, to those critics, you say what?

AL-SUWAIDI: Becky we're used to critics that you know, the UAE has been a country that is about delivery. We were criticized when we wanted to

diversify our economy and look at Dubai today, look at the diversification of our economy where 70 percent non-oil and gas today.

Many criticized when we started to develop our renewable energy industry. And today must up our renewable energy arm is the largest investor in

renewable energy globally. Our COP President Dr. Sultan just left Egypt where he signed a deal for the largest wind project in Africa.

Muster has been spearheading big projects like the London Array, -- Solar in Spain. And as you know, in the UAE, we have the lowest cost three of the

lowest cost solar projects in the world. We're a country that was criticized when we wanted to host IRENA today.

IRENA is in the UAE. It's one of the preeminent renewable energy organizations. When we put our minds to delivering, we deliver and in the

UAE, you know, we have a track record when it comes to sustainable development, climate change renewables. We've been doing this for a long

time.

Now our leadership has really set us on that path a long time ago. And what I think is really exciting is that here's a country that is embracing this

clean energy future that is embracing these net zero targets. And I think that we should celebrate that I think that we are very, very well placed.

We're -- we will provide a one type of energy today.

And we want to be a provider of the future type of energy. And we need to be looking forward to how we bring everybody together and bring more

optimism and more solutions to this process.

ANDERSON: And let's just talk about that optimism on a finding on a final note then. You say that we, that this meeting at the end of the year should

provide some optimism for the planet going forward. If there were one takeaway that you would hope to provide out of COP28, it will be what?

You've given us your priorities and what you believe needs to be on the agenda. If you had to rate those, what is that number one priority that

will help ensure this planet has that sort of potential going forward?

[11:50:00]

AL-SUWAIDI: Sorry, the sound is not clear. But, Becky, I think that if there was one thing I wanted to take away from this is that, we really need

to start to look at how the cop process can be about delivery. How it can be about real world actions that get us to delivering on the ambitions of

Paris.

We are a country, as you said, that tackles a lot of these challenges and has turned them into an opportunity to really grow our economy to be

forward looking, and to be looking towards the future.

What I would do love to see from COP28 is an outcome that passed away towards the future where everybody is included, that can create hope, that

can create excitement for young people, all types of stakeholders to really jump on board, and to help us to move forward and addressing this very,

very tough challenge. But that potentially could be really a great opportunity for us all.

ANDERSON: Much talk about the possibility of COP28 being you know, as consequential as Paris, and clearly an awful lot of work going into

ensuring that the priorities are laid out early. And that opportunity is had by all stakeholders in delivering some real results end of the year,

thank you sir for joining us.

AL-SUWAIDI: Thank you very much.

ANDERSON: Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi. Still to come, why Wall Street's top regulator is suing two leading crypto exchanges and how this may impact

investors, that is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Wall Street's top regulator coming down hard against two of the world's best known crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance. The Securities

and Exchange Commission announced a short time ago it is suing Coinbase for allegedly acting as an unregistered crypto broker.

Now this comes the day after officials filed a suit accusing Binance of blatant disregard for federal security laws and misleading investors. CNN

Business Senior Writer Allison Morrow joining us now from New York. Just how significant is this?

ALLISON MORROW, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: Thanks, Becky. Yes, this is a wild 24 hours in the land of crypto, which is already a very volatile

place. So we've got these back to back legal complaints from the SEC. And that's a really big deal. And it's scaring investors.

That's significant because, you know, crypto investors are used to a fairly large amount of risk that they take on day to day, and they have an almost

devout religious kind of alliance to these products. So with Binance, who was sued yesterday, by the SEC, we saw investors pull out almost $800

million in just 24 hours.

That's a sign that, you know, people are worried about whether their investments in crypto are legal or have, you know, problematic regulations

in the United States. So it's a matter of deal for crypto and it could be a turning point.

[11:55:00]

And this kind of long played out, back and forth over how to classify crypto assets as securities or as the crypto industry argues some

newfangled unique financial instrument.

ANDERSON: And what's the forecast for crypto going forward?

MORROW: Oh, that's a great question. And I think there are a million opinions about the forecast for crypto. I think what I'm hearing from

analysts and investors today is that is bad as this might be for Coinbase and Binance, who are two of the biggest names in all of crypto.

It might end up forcing a regulatory conversation that's been kind of delayed for years, and force a judicial review by bringing these issues

over classification and how they should be regulated to a court to a U.S. court. And that would ultimately force Congress to act to pass certain

regulations that would help these companies align their priorities.

ANDERSON: Thank you very much indeed. "One World" with Zain Asher is next. From the team working with me here in Abu Dhabi and those working with us

around the world, it's a very good evening.

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[12:00:00]

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