4. What discussions has the Counsel General had with the Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language in relation to co-operating with other countries following Brexit? OAQ53418

I'm in regular contact with the Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language to ensure that my work on pressing for the least economically damaging Brexit fits in closely with her work to develop our international engagement to support the future prosperity of Wales. 

My much-missed friend and colleague Steffan Lewis was a big proponent of closer links between the Celtic nations. Now, Steffan had a vision that greater co-operation with Ireland and Scotland would be beneficial for Wales in a number of different ways, not least economically. In the post-Brexit political landscape that is changing almost every single day, do you see merit in developing such a Celtic alliance? And, for example, has the Welsh Government considered the possibility of holding discussions about invoking strand 3 of the Good Friday agreement, which would allow members of the British-Irish Council to develop bilateral or multilateral arrangements between them? This would allow the establishment of mechanisms to enable consultation, co-operation and joint decision making on matters of mutual interest.

The Member refers to the British-Irish Council, which is an absolutely essential forum in this regard, and I attended it with the previous First Minister at the Isle of Man last year and saw at first hand how important that forum is and can continue to be in cementing relationships across the UK, yes, in the context of Brexit, but also in terms of future relationships more generally. As I've said in the Chamber previously—and I'll take the opportunity of saying again—we regard these relationships as very important, and in particular in the context of the Irish relationship and the coastal relationship, if I can put it like that, between the west of Wales and the south-east coast of Ireland. Of course, that relationship has benefited significantly from European Union funding through the European co-operation schemes and so forth. We've regarded those things as extremely valuable, as has, I know, the Irish Government. We need to look at cementing a range of relationships, I think, in our future, both among the Celtic nations, but also with other sub-state nations across the rest of Europe. We have memoranda of understanding or action plans already in place with Brittany and with the Basque Country, we're about to embark on a similar set of discussions with the Galicians, and we've developed, in particular with Quebec, for example, a memorandum of understanding around the aerospace sector—

Catalans? 

I'm sorry?

Catalans?

So, just to identify these as issues that we regard as being priority issues for us and the relationships need not be simply with Governments and state Governments but also on a sub-state level, both across Europe and further afield.

Of course, this question isn't just about international relations, it's about the Welsh language as well, and we're not unique or the only country having more than one indigenous language. Can you tell me whether any impact assessments have been done about the effects of Brexit on how we engage with programmes in the EU at the moment on supporting minority languages within a range of countries there, and what that impact's going to be on particular communities here in Wales?

I know that work is under way in relation to that. I'll write to the Member, if I may, in relation to that.FootnoteLink

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