As the committee Chair pointed out, our inquiry centred on three areas: trade, tourism, skills and training. It must be acknowledged that selling a small country such as Wales on the global market is no easy task. Sadly, our diaspora throughout the world is far smaller than that of either Scotland or Ireland. Consequently, the world's general knowledge of Wales is far less than that of these countries. We are, so to speak, lagging behind these nations. This lack of general knowledge of Wales was witnessed in our recent visit to Brussels, in that the Canadian diplomats and officials we met told us that, until recently, they had little or no knowledge of Wales.

There are, of course, signs that Wales is beginning to gain recognition, particularly from the worldwide sporting events that we have managed to attract—the Ryder Cup and the Champions League are good examples of this. But one has to ask: do they bring a lasting legacy, or is that legacy subsumed by the next venue to hold the event? The Cabinet Secretary, Ken Skates, is convinced that we are beginning to establish ourselves in an international context in such things as projecting ourselves as the adventure tourism playground of Europe, and I'm sure that this sort of specialisation is the key to obtaining global recognition for Wales. 

The first recommendation in our report is that the Government should create a specific Cabinet post to combine international trade responsibility and Brexit policy implementation. The committee sees this as a key factor in drawing together all the disparate strands in the development of the Wales brand. I'm disappointed that the Government only accepted in principle our fourth recommendation that the Cabinet Secretary should publish a detailed remit for overseas offices and report annually on how each office is delivering against that remit. It must be asked: what other way can we scrutinise their performance and make adjustments and strategies to make them more effective? 

I will end by pointing out that in Y Ddraig Goch, the unique flag, we have a ready-made marketing icon far more recognisable than the Scottish saltire or the Irish tricolour or, dare I say, the cross of St George. We should promote it on everything we produce and wherever we exhibit. Companies pay millions to have such a recognisable symbol; we should exploit it wherever and whenever we can.