By Gurdip Thandi
Copyright expressandstar
Next month, the region will host the first UK Regional Investment Summit in Birmingham with the aim of highlighting opportunities in areas such as housing, infrastructure, AI and energy.
The summit will also bring together business leaders and major investors with policymakers, regulators, regional mayors and other local leaders to showcase what’s on offer for investment, expansion and job creation across regions.
The Chancellor, who will co-host the summit, said international investors will be shown everything that ‘every corner of the country’ has to offer.
Confirmation of the event comes as West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker and Birmingham City Council leader John Cotton launched the biggest Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC) in the country.
The MDC aims to create tens of thousands of jobs and add billions to the local economy and incorporate the £3 billion Birmingham Sports Quarter, the £4 billion Birmingham Knowledge Quarter, the HS2 station at Curzon Street, the £2 billion Smithfield development, and a creative industries hub in Digbeth.
Rachel Reeves said: “For too long, too much of this great country has been locked out of investment. No longer.
“We got the British economy back on track after years of underinvestment, low growth and missed opportunities, but I know it still feels stuck.
“It’s why I’m determined to make sure people can see their towns and cities benefiting from that investment.
“I want to see investment right here in Wolverhampton to regenerate high streets, in Birmingham to create world leading jobs and in Coventry to build homes for families who need them.
“That’s why we are slashing red tape so we can get Britain building, upgrading our national infrastructure so we’re better connected, and attracting billions of pounds of investment to our shores, creating jobs.
“In a month’s time, I will be co-hosting the Regional Investment Summit in the West Midlands to achieve just that.
“With its world-leading life sciences and digital tech companies, making the region a hub of innovation, there is no better place to invite business leaders and international investors to advertise what every corner of our country has to offer.
“Through investment, jobs and growth, we will deliver a change that readers, and everyone in the UK, can really feel.
“We’re investing in Britain’s renewal, with an economy that works for working people – and rewards working people.”
