Contact with Non-EU Countries

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:59 pm on 6 March 2019.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 2:59, 6 March 2019

So, I think these are slightly different markets. So, there are areas where, clearly, what we need to do is not lose the market share that we have in Europe at the moment. We have 60 per cent of our trade with the European Union, and we don't want to lose that. So, part of what we need to be doing over the next few weeks and months is to lock down that relationship, irrespective of what happens in relation to Brexit. That's got to be one of the priorities. But it's back to this: what are those companies where we have real expertise, real specialism—like you've mentioned, the semiconductor operations we have here—that are world-leading? It's not necessarily about going to a particular country. It's perhaps about linking up with relevant companies, universities, researchers in those areas. And I do think that that we probably have to change our mind frame slightly, because I'm not sure if it's always going to be about choosing a country that we think might grow in future. I think we have to understand that the world is becoming a lot more specialised and, if we want to make an impact, we have to specialise also. Semiconductors is, apart from cyber security—those are two of the absolute key top priorities that I would see that we need to really focus on.