I certainly welcome this new portal because it's vital that our messages about Birmingham's huge potential as an investment destination for sovereign wealth management funds, major financial institutions, private equity providers and others reach an ever-wider audience.
Marketing Birmingham has achieved tremendous outcomes in promoting the city in the 海角视频 and overseas and, after much hard work and commitment by many people, it's evident there is a new understanding about what we have to offer as a city.
Equally, footloose investors from Europe, North America, the Gulf, South East Asia and elsewhere have an array of commercial opportunities before them so it's critical we demonstrate our ability to create investable propositions of a compelling nature to attract them to Birmingham.
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I believe we have much to offer, not least one of the youngest populations in Europe, with almost a third of the city's residents under the age of 20.
Birmingham's diversity and dynamism is a very powerful tool when we look to make our case to potential investors.
We also have a powerful and flexible economy - not simply by virtue of our long-established professional services sector but through a fast-growing presence in such sectors as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, digital, gaming, healthcare, life sciences, rail and real estate.
Equally, we can demonstrate continued investment in our infrastructure, which is particularly appealing to investors, through Grand Central, the Metro extensions and long-term expansion at Birmingham Airport.
Linking economic growth nodes through such infrastructure is a central catalyst for our growth strategy because connectivity - particularly when it runs in parallel with demographic dynamism - is very attractive for potential occupiers.
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The inevitable downside of an expanding and desirable city is that housing demand has consistently outstripped supply and we estimate Birmingham will need another 150,000 new homes by 2031.
However, we have ambitious plans in place to address that shortage, including the release of green belt land to allow the construction of 6,000 homes, and we expect significant interest from institutional investors and development partners as these proposals are fine-tuned and rolled out.
As we move deep into the sixth successive year of austerity, we must be more creative in how we use our own land holdings and other assets.
Attracting new investment from overseas and within the 海角视频 is absolutely crucial if we are to turn Birmingham's huge potential into tangible progress.
Waheed Nazir is Birmingham City Council's director of planning and regeneration and strategic director (acting) for economy