It is less than two years until more than 6600 international athletes and team officials and 3000 media arrive in Queensland for the largest event Australia has seen since Melbourne in 2006.

Without a doubt, it will be the largest event on Australia's sporting landscape for the next decade.

GC2018 will include the largest integrated sports program in the history of the Commonwealth Games, with 18 sports and seven para-sports being contested by the world's best athletes, many of whom will doubtless be Rio medalists.

These athletes will include some of the world's fastest sprinters, strongest weightlifters and most agile gymnasts.

In fact, that more than half of the London 2012 medalists in the sports to be contested at GC2018  were from Commonwealth countries.

There's no doubt there will be a similar representation following the Rio Olympic Games.

As well as the world's most high profile athletes, many young up-and-coming athletes will make their international sporting debut at GC2018.  Several of these will likely go on to become household names in years to come and will forever recall GC2018 as the place their dream began.

Sprinter Cathy Freeman, who still holds the title of the sixth fastest woman of all time over 400 metres, won her first Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1990 when she was just 16.  At the age of 20 she also won gold at the Victoria 1994 Commonwealth Games.  Two years later she won silver at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

But it's not just athletes that will make unforgettable global entrances.  Beach Volleyball will also make its Commonwealth Games debut at GC2018.  This will allow the Gold Coast's iconic beaches to be showcased when footage is beamed to an audience of more than 1.5 billion people around the world.

In a nationwide first for Australian events, GC2018 will also include a Reconciliation Action Plan that focuses on enabling Indigenous arts, cultural and other businesses to benefit from the Games. The Plan will allow GC2018 to play a vital part in generating awareness and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for many years to come.

Plans are also well underway to ensure GC2018 sets the international sustainability standard by putting in place innovative practices that can be replicated across the globe.

As the clock ticks down to April 4, 2018, all venues are on track to be completed on time and on budget.  Four new permanent facilities will be constructed.

These new venues are the $102 million Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre which will host Badminton, Powerlifting, Weightlifting and Wrestling, the $59 million Queensland State Velodrome which will host the Track Cycling, the $39 million Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, which will host the Gymnastics and Netball finals and Sound Stage 9 at the Oxenford Village Roadshow Studios, which will host Boxing, Squash and Table Tennis.

Twelve existing facilities will undergo extensive upgrades, transforming them into world-class sporting venues that have already secured a number of international sporting events.

The $41 million upgrade to the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre was completed in 2014 and just this month I was honoured to be on hand as the 4000-square-metre Sound Stage 9 at Oxenford Village Roadshow Studios, the venue for the Squash competition, was officially completed.

It's a positive early legacy for south-east Queensland.  The first movie, which is set to start shooting shortly, is the Chris Hemsworth sensation Thor: Ragnorok which is being filmed in the largest sound studio in the Southern hemisphere.

We cannot underestimate the power and size of the Commonwealth.

It has a population of 2.3 billion people and is home to some of the world's fastest growing economies including India, Malaysia, South Africa and Singapore.

More than half the population of the Commonwealth is under 25 years old and has annual GDP growth of 7.3 per cent. This is double that of the USA and Eurozone.

Officially, GC2018 is forecast to generate an economic benefit of more than $2 billion and generate up to 30,000 full-time equivalent jobs; however in reality the legacy is priceless.

Corporate Queensland and Australia have already demonstrated their confidence with the corporate and sponsorship programs tracking well ahead of Glasgow 2014 and Melbourne 2006.

Long after the Games have ended local communities will be able to utilise world-class sporting venues.  This will ultimately encourage greater physical activity amongst everyone from school students to senior citizens.  Seeing the world's greatest athletes competing in our very own backyards will also provide a lifetime of memories for young Australians.

GC2018 will also welcome up to 15,000 enthusiastic volunteers who will cement the Games' reputation as "The Friendly Games".  These volunteers will also be an invaluable part of the GC2018 legacy.

Once the Olympic torch is extinguished in Rio, the focus of the world's best athletes and international media will turn to the world's next major sporting event, GC2018.   This will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many Australians. I encourage everyone from big business to the wider community to get behind the event and Share the Dream of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Peter Beattie is a former Labor premier of Queensland and the chairman of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation.