The nine-day itinerary, coinciding with the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, featured more than 50 appointments and also included visits to Brisbane and Sydney.

The agenda included a West Midlands Showcase Event on 12 April, where Andy Street and Neil Rami addressed Queensland tech companies as part of panel session, focusing on the region’s accessibility; quality of life; world-class knowledge base; case studies of major firms, which had moved to the area; and connectivity credentials, with the arrival of HS2.

The delegation also met with the Queensland Investment Corporation, Sydney-based Westfield and M6 Toll owners IFM, and had briefings with Commonwealth Games officials. West Midlands Growth Company worked closely with the Department for International Trade to arrange the itinerary.

Mr Street told the Express & Star newspaper:

"Our aim is to go to the top of these organisations and see what their strategy is for investment to the UK. The first priority is making sure that our manufacturers here in the West Midlands are able to maintain access to EU trading arrangements, so the new trade deal that is going to be negotiated by central government is crucial.

"Given the similarities between Britain and Australia in terms of economic development there are certainly major opportunities for trade. If you look at their tech sector in particular, we want their tech companies to invest here.

"We want to make sure the West Midlands is in their thoughts."

To find out more about the delegation’s visit, click here for Andy Street’s interview with Ticky Fullerton from Sky News Australia 

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