Here is a link to that article.
Paul van Son is the chief executive of the Desertec Industrial Initiative. He notes that the Initiative still has 56 members and that new ones will come on board.
He did not point out that the German government just signed the financing deal for Ourzazate. Maybe the interview was done before that new development.
I agree with his assessment. And I wish the Mongolian Gobi desert project was as far progressed as the North African and Middle East Desertec project.