A £1 billion investment plan aimed at creating and protecting more than 30,000 jobs will be unveiled by regional development agency Advantage West Midlands today.

The money will be spent over the next three years on a range of projects outlined in AWM's latest corporate plan upon which Government spending in the region between now and 2008 will be based.

The plan pledges help, among other things, to promote the creation of thousands of new businesses, improve the work skills of thousands of indivduals and reclaim hundreds of acres of derelict land.

The overall aim is to support business, create more and better jobs and help close the gap between the most prosperous and the most deprived parts of the West Midlands.

"The key to making the West Midlands a world class region and developing the economy is to get the public, private and voluntary sectors to agree on a way forward and then invest our combined billions to achieve this," AWM chairman John Edwards said.

"Our most vital role as an agency is to lead this process.

"We will, ourselves, invest £1 billion over the next three years, but others must play their part if we are to do the best we can for the region.

"Developing the West Midlands as a world class region with an economy to match won't be easy."

Projects highlighted in the plan include the £80 million Eastside Technology Park and Learning and Leisure quarter on land around Millennium Point in Birmingham which are expected to create about 9,000 jobs.

Work is now underway on developing the Central Technology Belt at the former home of the BBC at Pebble Mill and at Longbridge to create worldclass science park facilities.

"The region's diverse and dynamic business is developing an enterprise culture, driven by what companies tell us they need to thrive and grow," said Mr Edwards.

"Business now has access to an array of agency finance initiatives that are the equal to anywhere in the UK."

He pointed to the work that AWM is doing with the Regional Skills Partnership and the Learning and Skills Council to overcome the region's skills shortgages and to drive up management and leadership skills.

The agency also stresses that it is working with other bodies to help improve the region's struggling transport network.

Its six regeneration zones had been allocated £250 million over the next three years to boost some of the region's most deprived and hard-to-reach communities.

"As the region develops and flagship projects transform our landscape, it is important that those outside the West Midlands realise its potential and recognize us as a world class region - one in which they would be glad to invest, work, live and study," said Mr Edwards.

He went on to stress that the £1 billion budget was only a fraction of the £60 billion of public sector investment that will be made in the West Midlands over the next three years by local authorities, universities, the NHS, and by skills and transport providers.

"If we can influence the way other public sector funding is spent, we will have a far greater impact on the region's economic performance," he added.