Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 11 December 2018.
This is now beginning to sound like a job interview, given that question. For me, there are two things that are vital, and these are issues that have been raised with me many, many times. The first is that it's hugely important to project Wales's image across the world—to go out and sell Wales. No-one else will do it, and it's massively important that we have trade missions. Some of those trade missions will be led by Ministers, or by a First Minister. They open doors that otherwise wouldn't be opened, and that has led to us being able to, for example, get to a position where Qatar Airways are flying from Cardiff. The international work is important, and our international offices are hugely important to make sure that people know that Wales is there and what we have to offer.
But skills is the second point. One of the questions that I was often asked when I used to talk to businesses in other countries—and, indeed, businesses in Wales—was, 'Where are we going to get the skills? Have we got the skills pipeline that we need in order to prosper in Wales?' Increasingly, we were able to do that. We were able to say—because we looked at particular sectors where we already had successful businesses, we could say, 'There is a skills pipeline—it's there, and, in fact, you can work together to create that skills pipeline with a business that's similar to yours.'
That's been a big change. Wales was seen as a low-cost, low-wage and low-skill economy at one time. We can't afford to be in that position again, and nor would anybody want us to be in that position again in this Chamber. What we can do is have an ever-greater focus on skills, because, by doing that, that's the way that you bring highly skilled jobs into Wales. It's also the way that you encourage entrepreneurs to come forward, because they can work with other people to build businesses in Wales and to realise their dreams. Because we know that, historically, in Wales we've not done well with entrepreneurs feeling that they can take a business forward. Many people have had good ideas and they haven't taken them forward. I think we're past that stage now, particularly with young people, but it is skills, skills, skills.