UAE unveils campaign to promote investments in country

Emirates plans to attract $150bn in FDI by 2031 in major push, which includes promotional video by UK actor Idris Elba

Earlier this year, Idris Elba teamed up with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to promote entrepreneurship, partnerships and investments across Africa. AP

The UAE has unveiled its campaign to attract Dh550 billion ($150 billion) in foreign direct investment by 2031 and eventually reach Dh1 trillion by 2051.

The Emirates attracted $30.7 billion worth of FDI inflows last year, compared with $22.7 billion in 2022, an annual growth of 35 per cent, the UN Conference on Trade and Development said in its 2024 World Investment Report.

FDI outflows from the country stood at $22.3 billion, compared with $24.8 billion in 2022, it added.

The UAE is also ranked the second-largest market after the US for greenfield foreign direct investment, according to the UN. Greenfield FDI involves a foreign entity establishing operations in another country by building new facilities from the ground up.

As part of its push to show the world the UAE's investment opportunities, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, shared a video titled Bring Your Impossible on social media on Monday, starring British actor Idris Elba.

"You are not crazy," Elba says in the clip, which lasts a little over a minute. "The world is changing, but you have a dream. A dream that people tell you is a waste of time. A dream that is impossible."

The video then cuts to a model whose world twists, turns and flips, similar to scenes in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster Inception.

"So here is a truth: there is a different path," Elba's voice continues. "A reality where dreams are not just chased, but exceeded. A place where we were told it was impossible until we made it possible. A place where you can imagine your future and create it."

He then ends with the tagline: "Bring your impossible to the Emirates."

Elba, who was one of the speakers at the World Government Summit in Dubai last year, is the latest in a long line of Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities to help promote the UAE and its investment opportunities.

In March, his investment company, the Akuna Group, teamed up with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to promote entrepreneurship, partnerships and investments across Africa.

And he has the business credentials. Besides his acting and music career, he runs several companies including Sherbro Alliance Partners, which is working to build a sustainable city in Sherbro Island, Sierra Leone.

Along with his wife, Sabrina Dhowre, Elba also runs S’able Labs, which makes sustainably sourced skincare products. The couple are also UN goodwill ambassadors.

The partnership also brought Elba back to UAE as a speaker at the Impact Summit, organised by the UAE office and Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem Hub71.