ADVANTAGE West Midlands chief executive John Edwards has visited the Japanese headquarters of Worcester manufacturing company Yamazaki Mazak as part of a trade visit to encourage more companies to invest in the region.

The West Midlands is already home to 120 Japanese companies employing more than 13,000 people and Japan was ranked second behind the USA for investment into the UK last year.

During the five-day visit, Mr Edwards met with senior bosses from Yamazaki Mazak, the world's largest machine tool manufacturer which employs around 360 staff in Worcester making CNC machines and lathes.

The region has had a presence in Tokyo since 1984 and in 1998 Advantage West Midlands opened an office there in partnership with the East Midlands Development Agency under the British Midlands banner.

Advantage West Midlands is constantly involved in working to secure global investment with companies across the world and has a network of offices in the US (Chicago, Boston, Washington DC and San Jose), Japan, India, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden and Belgium.

During the visit, Mr Edwards met with investment chiefs based in Japan and also took the opportunity to speak with the Japanese media about the benefits of investment in the West Midlands.

He said: "This visit was an opportunity not only to thank Japanese companies for their investment in our region, but also to give the message that the Midlands is the right place to invest.

"The West Midlands has the right infrastructure to attract top companies from Japan especially our excellence in research and development and high-value added manufacturing.

"Over recent weeks we have seen a number of high-profile announcements about global companies attracted to our region for research and development and clearly this is something we are eager to build on.

"Investment in research and development over recent years really is beginning to bear fruit now and our inward investment team is constantly working to sell these benefits to companies all over the world.