Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to open today’s debate, noting our report on Wales’s future relationship with Europe and the world, and therefore move the motion. Can I remind Members this is actually the second stage of our work, because we did, in 2018, publish a report, which was stage 1, that was focused on Europe, and this has gone wider to look at Europe and the world? Before I start my speech, can I just put on record my thanks to the clerking team and the staff in the Research Service and European office of the Commission for the work they have undertaken on behalf of the committee? Without those individuals, we are always going to be struggling, and we very much appreciate the efforts they put in.

In gathering the evidence for this report, we actually heard from academics and stakeholders, and we spent a lot of time thinking about Wales’s role on the international stage. Indeed, the Brexit process has brought new urgency and added impetus to this work, although we are now delayed a little bit on Brexit, and we've got a bit more time. But it is important we do look where we are in the future.

We looked beyond Wales, which is crucial, and spoke to representatives of Norway, the Basque Country, Quebec and Switzerland on our visits to London. We also spoke to representatives of Ukraine, of New Zealand, of Ireland and many other nations in visits to Brussels and beyond. Our sincerest thanks go to those individuals, who gave their time and commitment to listen to us, but also to feed into our inquiry on where they saw that future relationships can exist and how they worked in the relationships they wanted to do.