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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Nissan Denying Working With Apple And Japan; WHO Numbers Show Global COVID Cases Falling 17 Percent; Mandatory Quarantine Is Now In Effect For All U.K. Citizens; U.S. Markets Closed For President's Day; The Great Freen Wall Will Be A Barrier Against Desertification, And Will Be the Largest Living Structure On The Planet

Aired February 15, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN HOST: Live from New York I'm Julia Chatterley. This is First Move and here's your need to know. Wondering about Wuhan, was the

virus more spread that first thought?

Note (ph) from Nissan, a third big automaker denies working with Apple and Japan jumps, growth soars as the Nikkei breaks through 30,000.

It's Monday, let's make a move.

A warm welcome once again to the (ph) First Move. Great to be with you as always. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend. And for some us

it didn't end. It's President's Day here in the United States, so markets are on pause. Same in China and Hong Kong, where the Lunar New Year's

celebrations continue too. The year of the Ox in China, the era of the bull in global stocks.

The Japanese Nikkei, as I mentioned, today closing above the 30,000 for the first time in, get this, in over 30 years, fueled by news that the Japanese

economy grew to more than 12 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter, helped along by robust exports as consumer spend and businesses rebuild

inventory.

It echoes what we heard from the Maersk CEO last week, if you remember too. Europe also following Japan's lead, Italy arriving again after Mario Draghi

was sworn in as prime minister over the weekend. His policy plans (ph) are due this week, so we'll be looking out for those. Italian stocks have

actually gained over 8 percent this month amid super hopes for Super Mario on what he can do for the nation.

The inflow, more broadly, though of money into stocks has been pretty incredible. Investors pumped a record $58 billion into global equity funds

in the most recent weeks. Data providing extra fuel for the bull run amid expectations of more U.S. stimulus, smoother vaccine rollouts, some

accelerated of course. And declining COVID infections.

The latest World Health Organization numbers show global COVID cases falling 17 percent, the fourth straight weekly drop, hopeful signs it seems

for spring and summer reopenings and recovery.

Let's get to the drivers and the latest search for signs about how the pandemic may have started. More questions, fewer answers over the access

and data China gave to the WHO. Investigators in Wuhan, their findings suggest the coronavirus outbreak was larger than previously thought. The

United States and U.K. now raising concerns about the information from the early days of the outbreak.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh spoke exclusively to the lead investigator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The leader of the WHO mission to China investigating the origins of the coronavirus has

told CNN the virus was likely much wider spread in China in December 2019 than was thought.

Peter Ben Embarek revealed the 174 positive cases found that first December, likely severe cases meant there could actually have been an

estimated 1,000 plus total cases in and around the city of Wuhan that month.

PETER BEN EMBAREK, DANISH FOOD SCIENTIST AND PROGRAM MANGER WHO: And the virus was spreading (ph) widely in Wuhan in December, which I think is a --

is a new finding. And the (ph) hundred laboratories (ph) confirmed and the 74 clinically --

WALSH: Diverse (ph). About 174 would suggest 1,000 or so plus even?

EMBAREK: Yes. Probably. Very likely, because that's, again, that would fit with all the other parameters that we have looked at.

WALSH: The team also established that in that first December there was as many as 13 slight variations of the virus from samples of all or bits of

its genetic code circulating in and around Wuhan where this seafood market is thought to have played a role.

EMBAREK: We have 13 strains covering individuals in December. And some of them are from the markets or into the markets. Some of them are nothing

(ph) to the markets. All this is something we found as part of our mission.

[09:05:00]

WALSH: That many variations so early on could suggest the virus had been circulating for some time, some analysts told CNN. Although precise timing

is still unclear.

Their work heavily scrutinized, tense and frustrating conditions.

EMBAREK: Here (ph) remember (ph) we (inaudible) and it's on our shoulders 24 hours a day for (ph) months, which doesn't make the work amongst

scientists easier. But, in a way you as always with between (inaudible) scientists who you get -- you get heated discussion and argumentation about

this and that.

WALSH: They hope to return to access biological samples they say China has yet to share, especially hundreds of thousands of blood bank samples from

Wuhan dating back two years.

But China's pledged transparency with the investigation.

EMBAREK: There is about 200,000 samples in available data that are now secured and could be useful for new center studies.

WALSH: And you want to look at that urgently?

EMBAREK: Yes, that would be -- that would fantastic if we could move with that.

WALSH: It is not amazing that they haven't already looked through those samples?

EMBAREK: You could say that, but we understand that these samples are extremely small samples and only used for authentication (ph) purpose.

WALSH: So many more questions still to answer. First, if China would let them back in.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: So many questions. All right, let's move on. Because the fight against the virus goes onto more than 38 million Americans have received at

least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. But, as the rollout picks up speed so does the race against variance of the virus.

U.S. researchers have identified several new mutations here in the United States.

Elizabeth Cohen joins me now. Elizabeth, there's a lot going on. The ramp up of vaccines, we've got cases coming down as we seem to be coming off

this Thanksgiving, Christmas wave that we've seen, but now fresh concerns amid U.S. identified variants. What can you tell us on this?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So Julia, so many of the variants we've been talking about have been found in other parts of the

world. We talk about the variant first spotted in the U.K., the variant first spotted in South Africa or in Brazil.

And many people were wondering why aren't we hearing about variants arising in the U.S., which has so many cases? And really the reason experts tell us

is because the U.S. does not do a great job of looking for these variants and you only find them if you actually look for them.

So, the U.S. is getting much better about this and teams at Louisiana State University, the University New Mexico and other universities have found

several variants that have arisen in the U.S., homegrown variants if you will.

But I want to add one caveat before we talk about these, just because something's a variant doesn't mean that it's bad. You can have variants

that are really very similar to any other kind of coronavirus. So, obviously still bad, coronavirus is bad, but not necessarily worse.

So, let's take a look at what they are and then I will do more on that, I'll answer more on that question afterwards.

So, let's take a look at what these researchers found. They looked at seven different so-called homegrown variants and what they found was that -- and

they named them after birds, and I'll explain that in a minute too. That a variant that they decided to call Robin 1 was found in 30 states. Robin 2,

very similar to Robin 1, in 20 states. And Pelican in 13 states in the U.S. along with Australia, Denmark, Switzerland and India.

And then there were four more that they found that were much, much less common, but certainly worth noting. And you can see the geography of it

here. Yellowhammer, bluebird, quall and mocking bird.

So first, let's talk about why they named them after birds, Julia, it does seem strange. It's because naming a variant, the U.K. variant of the South

Africa variant, there's concern that it stigmatizes those places and we don't want to do that.

And so, that's why they decided to name them after birds. So, I guess now we're only stigmatizing birds and hopefully they won't notice. So, that's

why they named them after birds. But, let's talk about what this means.

There are three things that you want to think about with variants. One, are these variants more transmissible? Just spoke with the senior author of the

study and he said, look, we have no -- at this point we don't have any evidence that they're more transmissible, we're still working on it.

Second question is, do they cause more severe disease or do they have a higher death rate? Same answer, we don't -- we don't think so at this

point, but we're still working on it. They don't know the answer to that question.

The third one is will these variants somehow circumvent or trick the vaccine so the vaccine won't work as well? Very happy to tell you that this

researcher says that every sign that they've seen so far is that the vaccines will work just fine against these variants. So, that is certainly

good news.

Julia?

[09:10:00]

CHATTERLEY: And we always underscore that point. Variants of any form are not a reason or an excuse not to take a vaccine if you were looking to take

a vaccine and you wanted to -

(CROSSTALK)

COHEN: Absolutely.

CHATTERLEY: -- beforehand. We will reiterate that once again. And I love the point actually, and I'll make it very quickly, about trying to remove

some of the stigmatism attached to - or the stigma attached to where the variants were identified because I think this has been a problem for the -

for the U.K. and for South Africa as well. Just because they were identified by these scientists doesn't necessarily mean it was born out of

that nation, so very important.

Talk to me about Israel because there is an interesting study come from there about the efficacy of vaccines over the spread of infections. And I

know you're going to caution mean because this data hasn't been seen or peer reviewed, but good signs at least and we're looking for good news.

COHEN: That's right. So, as you said, not published in a medical journal or peer reviewed, but still really interesting data. So Israel you can

think of kind of the foundation of the greatest amount of data on this vaccine because they have vaccinated so many of their citizens.

So in the clinical trials for these vaccines they were giving it to tens of thousands of people. In Israel they're giving it to so far hundreds of

thousands or really actually I think millions of people, so this is really, really important data.

So Israel has a national health service just like the U.K. and other - and some other European nations. And so, they took 1.2 million people in

Israel. Half of them had gotten the vaccine and half of them had not, and what they found was that they could compare the two and see that the

vaccine was 94 percent effective. This is the Pfizer vaccine. That is very close to what the Pfizer number was out of their clinical trials, very

close to the Moderna number, which the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines are very, very similar. So this is really good news.

Sometimes you wonder when you come out of a clinical trial, all right, that's what we found in the trial. What about the real world? Well they're

basically finding the same thing in the real world, and that's great news.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it is, and we like that on this show. Fingers crossed. Elizabeth Cohen, great to have you with us and your insights this morning.

Thank you. All right, next driving (ph), Nissan joining a growing line of automakers not in talks to build and Apple car despite reports to the

contrary. Questions are swirling around. Who's left as a possible partner? Paul R. La Monica joins me now. Paul, forget the iCar. This is the not iCar

because this is another automaker that's been forced to come out and say it's not us.

PAUL R. LA MONICA, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Yes. Interestingly Nissan saying it is not working with Apple, but if you look at that Financial Times

report is does suggest that there were some discussions that may have been taking place and that Nissan has decided not to really pursue it any

further.

That comes on the heels of Hyundai and Kia also saying that they are not talking with Apple about building an iCar, and Apple Car, whatever you want

to call it. So I think a lot of people are still wondering will there ever be any sort of Apple-branded vehicle on four wheels or is it going to be

the type of thing where Apple just continues to develop technology for cars but not an actual Apple-branded truck, sedan, what have you, et cetera.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and that's a great question. I would say there's no smoke without fire here, and clearly there are some kinds of discussions.

Some of the reporting from elsewhere suggested that it was partly a problem of Apple wanting to take a car that's made by an automaker and brand it an

Apple car so they lose some of the branding benefits here.

Analysts, and these are well-known analysts, Ming-Chi Kuo said he believed the Apple Car will be built on Hyundai's EGMP platform, shipping in 2025 at

the earliest. And of course the story began with Hyundai initially saying they were working on it and then they came out and denied it and said that

they weren't. And of course we know that Apple is a very, very private company, so one has to wonder whether something's going on behind the

scenes even if no one's confirming anything at the moment.

LA MONICA: Definitely and you still have other potential companies out there that could be in play as well. There are some reports suggesting BMW

might be another player, but the one that I find most intriguing that some people are talking about is this company Magno (ph), which is sort of like

a Foxconn, if you will, of cars in that they could contract out and make cars for Apple with an Apple-branded name because they do have some

relationships with other big automakers where they do make cars that other brands' names get put on it.

So that might be an intriguing option for Apple as well if they look to find a third party that isn't interested in having their brand name on a

car so that maybe Apple Car, iCar, whatever winds up being something that it's the market.

[09:15:00]

CHATTERLEY: Ah ha (ph), you may have heard it here first. I like you're thinking. Paul La Monica, great to have you with us. Thank you so much for

that. All right, let me bring up to speed (ph) now with some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world.

Mandatory quarantine is now in effect for all U.K. citizens and permanent residents entering England from dozens of coronavirus hot spots. Those who

visited the country on the U.K.'s travel ban lists in (ph) quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. Arrivals from other countries still must quarantine at

home. Selma Abdelaziz is in London with all the details for us. Great to have you join us. Just explain exactly how this is going to work?

SELMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: Well Julia, all went into force today. The health secretary on the radio saying it's all gone smoothly. So how does it

work? Basically if you arrive and you are coming from one of those 33 red list countries at the airport there's only four airports that you can land

in.

At the airport you're going to be put through a specific channel. You're going to have paid and have booked ahead of time for that government

sanction quarantine in a hotel. It'll be about 1,750 in terms of pounds. That's about $2,500 U.S. dollars. If you're one of those travelers, you'll

then - that cost will include your transportation, your food, your accommodation, all of that.

So once you arrive in the airport you'll be escorted to that hotel quarantine. That is where you'll stay for 10 days. You'll also be tested

twice during that quarantine on day two and day 8. Once that's complete, those tests are negative, after that tenth day you can reenter the U.K.

Now, of course, the concern here is all these variants that are popping up around the world. That's why you see a lot of South American counties and a

lot of countries in Africa on that list of 33, but there's also been a great deal of controversy as well with some saying this doesn't go far

enough. The controversy here is around the U.K.'s crown gem, its vaccination program. More than 15 million people have received their first

dose of the vaccine, and the authorities simply want to protect those gains from any other variants that could enter the U.K..

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it's a challenge, isn't it. Particularly even just a simple thing like arrivals and people using bathrooms in arrivals and then

going off in different directions whether it's quarantine or home. We shall watch this base. Selma, great to have you with us. Thank you for that. All

right, still to come on First Move, it's a cinch. I'm joined by the Swedish comms company that makes it easier for companies to communicate with their

customers, and they say love is priceless with a $10 tree (ph) for Africa last forever. Later in the show the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu is

here with a heartwarming project. Stay with us. We're back next (ph).

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. U.S. markets are closed for the President's Day holiday after pushing to fresh records on Friday but a

banner (ph) day for Japan. The Nikkei rallied almost 2 percent to more than a 30 year high after strong growth data.

Oil meanwhile also having a strong session, both Brent and U.S. crude sitting at fresh 12 month highs, hopes for economic reopenings and more

fiscal stimulus helping drive sentiment there too.

Now with impeachment proceedings finally over in Washington, Congress can also focus more of its attention on boosting emergency aid for needy

Americans. Trillions of dollars worth of stimulus already in the pipeline have helped boost global stocks overall and giving a lift perhaps to other

assets too like Bitcoin and the once popular Reddit stocks.

All this leading to a certain worry about speculative froth, excess liquidity and the inevitable question, where is the market's top?

Mohamed El-Erian joins us now. He's the Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz. He's the President of Queen's College Cambridge University. Mohamed,

fantastic to have you on the show as always.

The data that surprised me and probably shouldn't have done in the past week was the inflows into equities, $58 billion and to illustrate the

liquidity phenomenon, bonds also $13 billion of inflows. What do you make of that at (ph) this point in time?

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, CHIEF ECONOMIC ADVISOR OF ALLIANZ: Thanks for having me, Julia. What I make of it is that investors are tracing what (ph) someone

they booked a rational bubble. Investors know that asset prices are very high but there's reason to believe they'll go even higher.

Why? Because in addition to massive central bank liquidity injection there are will prospects of massive fiscal injections on top. So basically

investors feel confident with riding (ph) what is a massive historic liquidity wave.

CHATTERLEY: Do you buy the relative muted inflation data that we got on Friday? Or do you share the concerns of those like Bill Dudley, the Former

Head of the New York Fed who said, "Look, there are a number of reasons to worry here."

"One, the recovery's going to be faster than we think. Corporates have cash, individuals by in large have cash or will be getting some more and

people believe inflation will rise." How concerned are you?

EL-ERIAN: So I think we're going to see the price level change by more than what the Fed is expecting whether there will be a massive debate, is

that an inflationary (ph) process or is that a once and for all increase in price level as we reopen? What's interesting is the market may not wait for

that. And that's--

CHATTERLEY: Sure (ph).

EL-ERIAN: -- a concern out there that when the market sees the price level go up by more than what the Fed is expecting, they will worry. And already

you have seen bond yields on longer data securities go up. So there is concern and you're starting to see it in the marketplace.

CHATTERLEY: Because there's a timing mismatch there. You can have fueled by all the liquidity, the hopes for reopening, vaccines flooding the

market, recovery theme driving stocks and even before you see the whites in the eyes of inflation a reaction to all of that in the bond market.

EL-ERIAN: Yes, absolutely. I mean, it -- there's two timing mismatches. One is in the will economy. Economists make a difference between notional

demand, what we'd like to do and effective demand, what we are able to do.

And right now notional demand is much higher than our effective demand. We can't travel. There's a whole host of things we can't do. So as we reopen,

our effective demand goes up to notional demand so there's a lot more demand in the economy.

But the supply may not respond as quickly. That's the first mistiming. The second is that bond prices start to move before actual inflation. They move

on the expectation of inflation which would put the Fed in a really difficult position.

What does it do? Does it let yields go up and risk equity market disturbances that then feed back into the economy or alternatively do they

get pulled in even more in intervening and distorting markets? That's not a great position to be in.

CHATTERLEY: But what do you think? Which one?

EL-ERIAN: I think they'll be tempted to do the second because that's what they have been doing all along.

[09:25:00]

And they'll hide behind the, we got to give this economy every chance but the more you distort markets, the more you distort asset allocation, the

more you reduce efficiency and productivity.

So this is not a costless exercise, there is a lot of collateral damage and unintended consequences.

CHATTERLEY: Well, we should talk about the people that get left behind and the fact that it does whether you like it or not exacerbate the inequality

that we see in society and keep talking about trying to address.

But in the interim we make it worse by trying to support more -- further support for the sort of weakest part and element of the -- of the

economies.

We quite rightly should do. I'm struggling to compute the everything rally that we seem to be seeing here with signs, classic signs of the market top

froth in the IPO market, fundraising going gangbusters.

Can we continue to see both of these things for a significant period of time simply because what we're seeing now in terms of stimulus is so

unprecedented?

EL-ERIAN: So we can unless one or two things happen, one is a market accident. And I think people don't sufficiently appreciate how close we got

a market accident a few weeks ago with Reddit, Robinhood and certain stocks. We came very close to a market accident.

And it would have had what is called cotangent. It would have contaminated other things. So, the first danger is all this excessive risk taking

because irresponsible risk taking and you get a market accident.

The second risk is the bond market that if you destabilize the bond market, you take away two reasons why people are so keen on stocks. One, this

notion there's no alternative. Well, if yields go up there is an alternative.

And second, this notion that with the yields that low floored (ph) forever, discounted cash flow models signal bye, bye, bye for equities. So that's

the two risks that a lot of us are monitoring. But getting the timing right is really hard.

CHATTERLEY: Is there risk of a accident in digital assets in Bitcoin because for all the excitement in what we saw with GameStop there's a

similar level of euphoria excitement in digital assets, Bitcoin for example.

But some of the others too which have also had a gangbusters run over the last 12 months particularly. Is there a risk of an accident here if that

pulls back too, Mohamed?

EL-ERIAN: So here the risk comes from the official sector. There's a massive contrast. On the one hand the private sector is embracing more and

more Bitcoins as both a form of payment and as a way to invest.

And you -- and the Tesla announcement of putting in $1.5 billion of that cash management into Bitcoin and saying they're going to accept Bitcoin as

payment is a perfect example of that. So the private sector is embracing it more. The official sector is warning more about Bitcoins. They're worried

about what's happening.

So, the real accident here is that the official sector says enough is enough. And that's the risk that as -- that Bitcoins holders have right

now. It is not adoption as much as it is will the official sector allow this to continue.

CHATTERLEY: Do you expect more companies, very quickly, to take some of the cash in their balance sheets and invest in digital assets as we've seen

Tesla do or do you think they're a unique case?

(LAUGHTER)

EL-ERIAN: No, I think -- I think you see more companies do that and it's because they don't know how else to mitigate risk, so it's part of the

distortions of the financial market that we're seeing more generally.

CHATTERLEY: Wow. Mohamed, always great to chat to you. Thank you so much. Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz and the President of

Queen's College Cambridge University. Thank you, sir.

You're watching First Move. More to come.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:32:05]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. Sinch is a platform pairing the latest innovation on customer service. In its own words, Sinch, quote,

"let's businesses reach every mobile phone on the planet in seconds or less through mobile messaging, voice, and video." In other words, Sinch is the

middle man that let's companies contact customers on their phones. Joining us now is Oscar Werner. He's the CEO of Sinch. Oscar, fantastic to have you

on the show. We stole some of your words there, but in your own words what is the company - what's the ambition here?

OSCAR WERNER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, SINCH: So thank you. So Sinch is - I mean, our vision is simplifying life by bringing all people and

businesses closer together. What we mean by that is what we do is a cloud communication for messaging, voice, and video. So if any enterprise on the

planet wanted to do a video call with their consumers, they want to do a voice call with their consumers, or they want to use messaging channels

such as WhatsApp or Appavista Chat (ph) or RCS or text messaging we can power that globally.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, there's never been a more important time for firms to be connected with their customers digitally. We've seen a huge rise in

ecommerce and all sorts of acceleration in digitization, and not only as a result of that but fueled by that you're growth has been astronomical,

bigger than the sector itself, so you're clearly gaining market share.

WERNER: Yes. What's passionate (ph) to be about this market is I've yet to meet one single person that is not a consumer of these types of services.

All of my friends, all of your friends, everybody has done a video call with a doctor or a voice call to the right hailing app (ph), or they've

kind of used it to get a message from the dentist.

So this is - like every single person is a user, and that also means that almost every single enterprise that wants to communicate with the

consumers, all their staff is a potential customer, and I've never been in such a market.

This is the same penetration as mobile phones, and that is also powered - we do 126 billion of what we call engagements - that's a voice call, video

call, or messages - 126 billion a year. That means that we on average touch every single mobile phone on the planet on average 14 times per year. And -

(CROSSTALK)

CHATTERLEY: I mean, these are astonishing statistics. You also have as part of your client base 8 I believe of the 10 largest tech companies in

the world. I mean, communication, nothing more important for these guys in particular to have top notch. And if they're not happy with your services

then they go somewhere else. How do you differentiate yourself because there are other players out there that do some of those you (ph).

WERNER: And that's been the core to the foundation. It speaks to what we were founded on. We were founded on service quality.

[09:35:00]

You know, we are the leader on the world in high-quality, especially international service quality.

So when somebody like one of these big tech companies want to power messages to every single company in the world or every single country in

the world with zero latency and extremely high quality, that's when they find us. And they have gone through the realms. They tested a couple of

rounds of suppliers, and many of them luckily have said right (ph) in terms of service quality we really truly stand out, and I think that's the way

you grow.

And yes, you can imagine there's no way of servicing these companies if you don't have good service quality because they would test you every second of

the day to every company on the planet. Algorithmically they test your systems, which is obviously great for us because then our service quality

to them and we can increase it and roll out to all other customers as well of course.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, and if you underperform you're dumped. It's really simple.

(LAUGHTER)

You also have described - you've also described yourself from being profitable from day one. Describe what that means because I know you

recently took some money from Softbank and you said this was to fuel acquisitions, but profitable from day one, Oscar?

WERNER: Yes, this is a fascinating stat. I'm not a founder, so I attribute it to this (ph) the founder, but the founders of this business they only -

they put in $10,000 of shared capital, and the company has been profitable ever sense on its own cash flow, never needed one single dollar to fund its

operations.

CHATTERLEY: Whoa!

WERNER: So yes, so any -

(CROSSTALK)

CHATTERLEY: $10,000?

WERNER: Yes, $10,000, which is hard to imagine, right? Any amount of tech ins (ph) always been for doing acquisitions, but for funding the operations

always been profitable, and that's core to the company. It's like how do you build a business by delivering enough value or large amounts of value

to the customers in order to make a profit at all times?

And I think that's core and engrained in our culture in our company, and I'm very, very proud of that of course.

CHATTERLEY: Talk to me about growth opportunities because I know you've done an acquisition in Latin America but India is also an area that you're

eyeing as huge opportunity.

WERNER: Yes, there are growth opportunities in many areas in this business. You know, if you would speak to somebody like Gartner they would

say that CPaaS offering, global enterprises, probably 20 percent buy them today while 2023 their - Gartner's projection is that 90 percent of global

enterprise will leverage KPI-enabled CPaaS offerings. So it's a market that is growing very rapidly. And the underlying reason for that is very simple,

right? The mobile communication channel is very powerful. The reason text messages exist today is that you can reach any person on the planet within

seconds, and that is the only channel you can do that with. It's got 98 percent open rate (ph) and 95 percent read rate (ph) within three minutes,

and that is obviously much better than email. If you want to have a short message - a long message you can't because it's 160 characters, but if you

want to reach anybody that's a very powerful channel.

What's happening now, though, is that there's a lot of new channels coming on market like WhatsApp, you know, Facebook Messenger, Appavista Chat (ph),

RCS, WeChat, KakaoTalk, LINE, Telegram. So a lot of new channels coming on to market, which - in which you can do more than 160 characters. You can in

principle send and app to the phone. To your inbox instead you get an app.

So imagine being on the - on the airport. If you got a mail saying your flight is cancelled you wouldn't notice, right? You would miss it. If you

get a text you notice and then you go to the - to the - you call the customer care agent. You could get an RCS or a WhatsApp message saying,

hey, your flight is cancelled. These are three options to rebook. Click one, and you rebook it automatically.

CHATTERLEY: Oh, it sounds like music to my ears.

(CROSSTALK)

WERNER: There are three open channels (ph) - these are the three hotels. Click one and you read - and you booked them automatically, and this is

middle (ph) option. Now, it's easy to see that's a 10X (ph) better service for you as a consumer because you get rebooked faster and you're a happier

customer, and it's a 10X (ph) better service for the enterprise because what happens they have a happier customer and rebooked faster, but it's

also they don't have to have a $5 phone call into the customer care centers. They void a communication via voice and you're a happier customer.

So -

(CROSSTALK)

CHATTERLEY: I -

(CROSSTALK)

WERNER: -- I think we can agree that's a growth opportunity (ph).

CHATTERLEY: I see the vision. I certainly do. Come back and talk to us soon. Oscar, great to chat to you. The CEO of Sinch there, and that

certainly sounded like a cinch compared to what it can be like. Thank you. All right, up next after the break, never mind (ph) chocolates. It's never

too late to tell someone you love them for Valentine's Day. What about a $10 tree for Africa that lasts forever? I hope this project will warm your

heart as much as it does mine. Details after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:44:10]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. An uplifting campaign that brings together the environment, empowerment and justice. It's a topic that's very

close to my heart and I'll explain why in a moment.

Stretching the width of Africa the Great Green Wall is a barrier against desertification. Once complete it will be the largest living structure on

the planet. Now the Julia Tree Initiative has a challenge and that's to plant and nurture a million trees along the wall inspired by the legend of

Saint Valentine. The act as a symbol of enduring love.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heartbroken by Valentine's execution, Julia plants a seedling as a testimony to their eternal love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: As you'll hear this project goes beyond helping the economy and the environment ecosystem, as important as they are, it's also for the

education of girls, empowerment for women and racial justice worldwide and it is my huge honor to be an ambassador for the initiative.

Now, one of the forces behind this project is Mpho Tutu van Furth. She's the executive director and co-founder of the Tutu Teach Foundation and is

also the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who is a patron of the initiative.

Mpho, fantastic to have you on the show. I am so excited, can I just say, to be part of this. I think we should start just by explaining what the

Great Green Wall is and how it's already helping.

MPHO TUTU VAN FURTH, CO-FOUNDER TUTU TEACH FOUNDATION: Well the Great Green Wall is an initiative of the African Union and it is to be a wall of

trees, growing trees that spread across the Senegal and the northern dry Rim of Africa as well as now into the southern African dry lands.

[09:45:00]

When the wall is realized it will be more than 8,000 kilometers or 5,000 miles long across the whole of Africa going from west to east or east or

west.

CHATTERLEY: And it's about building out the ecosystem, giving farmers the chance to feed their families, to produce a living. And also part of this

as well as, as I mentioned, the education of women in some of these communities, which I know you're incredibly passionate about too.

FURTH: I am. As you -- as you say, it is absolutely a way to combat desertification and the consequences of desertification which have been

visited very heavily on women and on children.

And so this Great Green Wall will grow trees, grow fruiting trees across Africa to combat the affects of desertification and we know that it is

indeed an African problem and an African solution to an African problem. But, it's also an African solution to a global problem.

CHATTERLEY: Yes.

FURTH: Climate change doesn't just affect Africa. It actually affects the whole world. To plant fruiting trees across this rim of Africa will provide

jobs for women, will enable girls to go to school. Will stop the scourge of migration as people flee in search of better -- of better work and of a

better life for themselves and for their families.

We are walking -- working together with Hope Initiatives International and ORGIIS (ph), which is an organization for indigenous initiatives and

sustainability in Ghana, to actually grow these trees.

And as you know, a tree may not take that much to plant, but it takes five to 15 years before --

CHATTERLEY: Right.

FURTH: -- most of the indigenous trees are providing fruit, are fruiting. And so, the initiative isn't just about planting trees, but it's actually

growing trees and growing communities as we are able to put people to work and that sustainable job of growing these -- this forest.

CHATTERLEY: And it's going to take time. And actually as part, and you've sort of mentioned it, the Julia Tree Challenge, and I mentioned it too. Is

planting one million trees and planting season is July, August time, so we have to get cracking on this.

But, what I really loved about this was the story behind it and why we're doing this around Valentine's Day and the sort of untold story of the

relationship between Valentine and Julia. And perhaps (ph) just give us a sense of that too, because this is also on the website that people can

watch and understand.

FURTH: Yes, so we are absolutely delighted to have you, Julia, as our ambassador and we asked you to be our ambassador for two reasons. One,

because you're absolutely wonderful and a great example of women's empowerment.

But two, because of you were blessed with the name Julia. And Julia was the bland daughter of Valentine's jailer. And the jailer asked Valentine to

bless his daughter and then asked Valentine to be her teacher.

And we don't know how long the teaching relationship continued, but when Valentine was schedule for execution he scrolled a note to Julia and signed

it from your Valentine and that's launched 1,000 love messages throughout the ages.

And Julia in her heartbreak planted a tree at Valentine's gravesite, a flowering almond tree at Valentine's gravesite and so launched an

initiative that will grow a million trees across the Senegal.

CHATTERLEY: I love it. And I loved it from the first moment that I heard it. And I'm grateful to be asked to do this. I'm also grateful to my

parents as well for naming me Julia, which is an uncanny -- uncanny coincidence. Fabulous, we love that. And it's $10 to plant a tree and in my

world Valentine's Day is everyday. You don't have to wait for one day of the year.

So, we have to get cracking and we just hope people will understand how incredible this is, how important it is, to you point, not just for the

region that we're trying to replant, but also for the entire nation, because we understand that sustainability, climate change is something that

we all have to take ownership of.

[09:50:00]

FURTH: Absolutely. And as you say Valentine's Day may be one day of the year but love is something that we need to underline and celebrate every

day of the year. And this is a way of celebrating love that continues to give into the future.

CHATTERLEY: Couldn't have said it better myself so I'm glad I had you here to do it. Big heart to you and I wore my red shirt specially. And I will

tweet out all the details so people get a sense of this. But it's just the beginning. So, great to have you--

FURTH: Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: -- with us. Thank you so much.

FURTH: Thank you so much. Thank you.

CHATTERLEY: I'm excited to begin. Take care. And thank you for joining us.

All right. Coming up, Jaguar jumping into the global race to go electric. Its transformation plan under a new CEO next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to First Move. Jaguar Land Rover under fresh leadership now unveiling its plans for electric vehicles, the U.K. based

carmaker says every JLR model will have an electric option by 2030.

Anna Stewart spoke with the company's new CEO and she joins us live from London. Exciting times although everyone's getting in on this act, Anna.

What did the CEO have to say?

ANNA STEWART, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're expecting this big ambitious strategy to be unveiled since he became CEO last year is perhaps not as

ambitious though as some analysts we're expecting, at least in terms of the cost cutting, Julia.

All of the U.K. plants are to remain, although some of them will be repurposed. No job cuts expected at this stage.

And the big slim down that was expected in their car portfolio hasn't happened either, just one car being scrapped the Jaguar XJ. It's all about

as you said the transition to electric. All Jaguar models will be all electric by 2025. And for the Land Rovers they'll have all electric

versions by the end of the decade.

But it's not just about electric, is it? It's about autonomous. It's about the future and every day it feels we're getting more and more rumors about

Apple entering the fray (ph). So that is what I asked the CEO about is he concerned about that potential competition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THIERRY BOLLOR, JAGUAR CEO: I think it makes a lot of sense the tech company getting interested in the car company. Why? Because the car is

visibly for all of us the next connected object and it's an expectation as well from all our customers who felt (ph)--

STEWART: Have you had any discussions with Apple?

BOLLOR: Oh, you know, we are -- we are discussing with everyone.

(LAUGHTER)

All leaders of the industry we have discussion with. And it's part of the way we are always emphasizing the next partnerships that we may have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:55:00]

STEWART: Of course Jaguar Land Rover really lacks the scale that Apple is probably looking for if they are indeed looking for a car partner. And

that, Julia, could be the big problem for this car company going forwards.

Yes it's the biggest carmaker here in the U.K. but on a global stage it's a bit of a minnow when you look ahead not just electrification but also

connectivity and of course autonomous driving.

CHATTERLEY: Great questions, Anna. Apple relationship, I love that you asked that. All you also had to ask was whether they're going to have

Bitcoin on the balance sheet. Did you ask that question?

STEWART: Next time, Julia. Next time top question.

(LAUGHTER)

CHATTERLEY: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

Anna Stewart, great job my friend as always. All right. That's it for the show. I'm Julia Chatterley. You've been watching First Move. Stay safe.

Connect The World with Becky Anderson is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END