There is no stopping Newport’s march to becoming, once again, an economic and cultural powerhouse in Wales. March alone started to show why I am so confident about Newport’s future.  

On the last weekend of March, we had the first ever Newport Music Trail, a festival-like free event with live music performances at packed-out venues across the city centre. This event driven by the council brought a fantastic buzz around the city, with lots of people visiting from elsewhere.

The music festival followed Newport’s Festival of Words. The festival was a celebration of words in all their forms, delivered through a programme of talks, workshops and performances.

Across the same weekend, Tin Shed Theatre also hosted the first Live Act Fringe performing arts festival, which showcased examples of new and ambitious performances in their early stages.

These events have driven up footfall again in the city centre, with visitor numbers up by around 10.3 per cent on Saturdays in March compared with Saturdays in the same month last year. For the whole of the month of March, footfall was up by 18,000 people compared to March last year.

Our cultural scene is vital for our local economy. Events like this bring visitors into Newport, who spend money in our local businesses. But almost more importantly, the positive experiences provided by such events creates a buzz around the city, with people wanting more.

This is at the heart of the new culture strategy for the city, which I was privileged to help launch. Commissioned by the council, the strategy has been developed by everyone who wants to see our city’s culture thrive.

It’s a plan which sets out a vision for Newport’s cultural offer, one which local artists and communities are empowered to take part in and shape.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the plan, you can read it on our website.

We recently had news of another major event which will be coming to Newport later this year.

Welsh government announced last month that they will be hosting the first international investment summit in Newport in December.

I firmly believe that this is Newport’s time to shine, and this summit, the first in Wales, being held in Newport shows that.

We are the fastest growing area in Wales and our economic potential is enormous. Many investors are already recognising this, and I welcome this great opportunity for us to promote Newport to more investors

Through our compound semiconductor cluster, our proposals for an AI growth zone and our place at the heart of the southeast Wales investment zone, we are already a hub for global business, and we have great transport links and connections to major cities across Wales and the UK.

Just last week, Vishay Intertechnology announced a further £250m investment into their Newport site, a strong statement of their confidence in our city as a place to do business.

For any business looking to invest in Wales, our message is clear: Newport is the perfect location for you.

Dimitri Batrouni is leader of Newport City Council.