Well, thank you very much. May I start by welcoming the committee's report and thanking David Rees especially for all of the work undertaken and the evidence gathering that you have done during this inquiry, because it has provided us with some very valuable information as we develop our new strategy for Wales? I'm also grateful to everyone who's contributed to this afternoon's debate. May I say that I'm pleased that we have accepted the recommendations in the report, and that generally speaking I agree? I'm not particularly happy to accept recommendations in principle. One of the problems we have at the moment is that Brexit means that it's very difficult in certain areas for us to know exactly what the future holds. So, that partly explains why that's the case.

For decades, the way that we have operated in Wales has been defined by our relationship with the European Union. I'm pleased that Alun had noted the fact that we had called ourselves a European nation, and that is an important political point to highlight, I think. Of course, the nature of that relationship at the moment is still uncertain, but whatever happens, Wales will continue to be a European nation and will be an open country that has strong links with our neighbours on the European continent. That will be true whatever the outcome at the end of the current negotiations.

Following my announcement in January on the development of a new strategy for Wales, I launched a period of consultation in order to give public sector, private sector and third sector groups a chance to feed in their ideas as to how we should develop this strategy, and I have been having discussions with many stakeholders across the main sectors. Now, in order to broaden that discussion, I published a series of online questions on social media in order to gather evidence from the public as to what kind of message and image we should be conveying to the world.

The strategy will give us a focus in terms of how we prioritise work within the department and will note the challenges and opportunities that I hope will emerge in future. It will also set out criteria so that we, and you, are able to measure and assess our success. Work on the strategy is ongoing, and I do hope that by the end of this month I will be in a position to present the first draft to the Cabinet, but the final document will be available by the beginning of the summer.

May I also thank Alun for raising this point of the importance of the environment to truly highlight the fact that we do take this issue seriously, and the possibility of taking a lead role in minority languages? I’m sure you've noted the fact that these are some of the points that I highlighted when I went to the United States.

It’s also worth noting that the international agenda runs as a thread through every Cabinet portfolio. So, over the past six weeks, I have been holding a series of meetings with other Cabinet Ministers, and those discussions have been most useful in helping to draw up the strategy. The committee has asked us to establish a Cabinet sub-committee to set direction, but may I say, given the importance of this agenda and the fact that his extends across a number of portfolios, I do think that it’s important that we do discuss this in the full Cabinet, rather than in a sub-committee of the Cabinet? But, I do accept the point that we do need to ensure that that does happen, and we need to consider how we ensure that that is on the agenda consistently and regularly.

Since the UK’s decision to depart the European Union, the Welsh Government has been working with partner organisations in order to mitigate the negative impacts during this transitional period of Brexit. The chaotic Brexit, as we’ve seen to date, will have an impact on civic society and third sector organisations in different ways, depending on the kinds of services that they provide, the people they serve and the people they employ. That is the reason why we have been providing financial support directly to sectors across Wales so that they can plan and prepare for Brexit. And that includes that £50 million in the EU transition fund.

It’s crucially important that we ensure, as far as possible, that the benefits that Wales received from being a member of the European Union are not lost once the UK establishes a new relationship. The UK Government must honour the commitment that Wales will not lose a penny in funding following Brexit. We continue to call on the UK Government to confirm that it will provide ongoing funding for Wales without any conditions attached, just as we have been receiving over the past 20 years. We know how important it is for Wales to continue to be part of partnerships and networks on a European level. We have been clear to the UK Government that we do hope to continue to be part of the EU programmes wherever appropriate.