Highlands & Islands Enterprise has pledged more than £3 million earlier this month to help stage events during the 2007 Year of Highland Culture.

The total budget for Highland 2007 now stands at more than £9 million, excluding spending on capital projects. In 2004, the Scottish Executive financed a new visitor Centre at Culloden Battlefield, the extension of Sabhal Mor Ostaig Gaelic College on the Isle of Skye, and the renovation of Eden Court Theatre, in Inverness.

Events planned during the year include a military tattoo, a clan gathering, the world Highland Games and the European pipe band championships. Up to £70 million is also expected to be invested in infrastructure to coincide with the 2007 events, which it is hoped will leave a lasting physical and cultural legacy to one of Europe's most remote and historical regions.