We’re now just one week away from the biggest event to ever be staged in the history of Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.
The Commonwealth Games will see us host 6,500 athletes and officials from 72 competing nations and territories for 11 days of thrilling sporting action.
But it is more than that. The Games represent a direct investment of £778m into the region, some of which is part of almost £1bn of wider regeneration in our proud host city that the event has been the catalyst for.
It is going to offer us a shop window to a global audience of 1.5bn people, it will help bring people together and gives us an opportunity to show off the very best of a bold, diverse and vibrant city on the cusp of a golden decade of prosperity and opportunity.