Paul Kehoe, the new president of Birmingham Chamber of Commerce (www.greaterbirminghamchambers.com) (succeeding Greg Lowson), has promised to “promote the hell” out of the region during his two-year term.

The chief executive of Birmingham Airport was speaking at the Chamber’s recent annual meeting, hosted by University College Birmingham. He said that the theme for his presidency would be “geography, scale and our place in the world”, and added: “I want Brummies to realise how great they are; in turn, we will promote the hell out of this region.

Recently, the Chamber was in Chicago spreading the word, and there will shortly be a trade mission to Delhi, where we will take a message that spells out the outstanding quality of this region.”