Actor Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba on Monday urged business and political leaders to give more support to the world’s poorest nations in the form of investment and not as an aid.
The actor-couple were honored at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, held in Davos, a Swiss mountain resort. They received the honor for their contribution in environmental conservation, food security and climate change.
The couple are Goodwill Ambassadors for the United Nations’ International Fund for Agricultural Development who urged the attendees at the annual summit for immediate financial support for people who have been suffering with food scarcity and climate change.
Urging the leaders at the event, Idris Elba said, “The poor of this world are not just looking for aid and handouts, they’re looking for investment.”
“We understand the power and change that can come from this room … We can move with agility and speed and your speed is needed now,” said Idris, who starred in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and “Beasts of No Nation”.
Sabrina Dhowre Elba brought to the notice of the leaders the food crises in Somalia, Haiti, Sudan and other countries, emphasizing on the difficulties of small-scale farmers bereft of the access to the resources they need but produce a third of the planet’s food.
“We are here at Davos to highlight the people and countries who are not making the headlines as much as my husband,” Dhowre Elba said while looking at her partner.
Elon Musk to not attend WEF
Twitter CEO Elon Musk does not attach any importance to the global economic summit. Dismissing the notion of WEF, he tweeted, “How is WEF/Davos even a thing? Are they trying to be the boss of Earth!? (sic).”
In response to another user’s tweet, she said, “WEF says its wealth is managed by an internal Investment Committee that seeks to incorporate “environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in its investment strategy to manage the foundation’s long-term strategic reserves,” Musk commented that “the S in ESG stands for Satanic.”
Musk, in an earlier tweet in December, said that he will not be attending the summit in Davos. The meeting, which started from 16th and will go on till 20th, has a gathering of around 600 CEOs from around the world. He has received an invitation for the meeting but declined, he posted, “My reason for declining the Davos invitation was not because I thought they were engaged in diabolical scheming, but because it sounded boring,” the multi-billionaire added.
