Robert De Niro in UAE for million-dollar business showcase

Actor Robert De Niro is coming to Dubai on Sunday, and the reason has nothing to do with the movies. It’s to do with a glamorous island nation in the Caribbean.

De Niro, in addition to being one of the most highly regarded actors of all time (with two Oscars to his name), is also a venture capitalist — he has stakes in hotel and the Nobu Japanese restaurant group. Now, he’s invested in Antigua and Barbuda, to the tune of $250 million (Dh918.2 million) — and will talk about it at the Destination Antigua and Barbuda conference at Dubai’s Versace Palazzo in his role as Special Economic Envoy.

He, and members of the two-island nation’s government, will speak to an invitation-only audience of Mena-based investors about opportunities tailored for this region.

The low-tax Antigua and Barbuda (investments are free from personal income-, capital gains-, inheritance- and wealth tax) are the largest English-speaking islands in the Leeward Isles, lying on where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic; De Niro has been a visitor there for the past 25 years.