Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 22 May 2019.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 2:33, 22 May 2019

You've already made mention of the fact that we have those opportunities later this year. We've got, of course, the UK-Japan Season of Culture, which is also coming up, including events that are going to be held here in Wales. One of the other things that we've got in common, of course, with Japan is that we're both nations with monarchs, and I'm sure you'd want to congratulate Emperor Naruhito and the Empress Masako on the Emperor's recent enthronement on the Chrysanthemum Throne, something that we on the Conservative benches welcome very much indeed. Will you take every opportunity to do what you can to work on the good relations that we've already got with the nation of Japan, given those historic links, given the major events that have taken place in Japan, and the sporting and other events that are coming up in the calendar this year? We know that in excess of 6,500 jobs in Wales are dependent on the Japanese investment that has come in, and we know that Japanese companies are still investing in the UK, in spite of some of the uncertainties around Brexit. We recently saw significant investment by Toyota and, indeed, Nissan in the UK. But Wales doesn't seem to getting dollops of that cash. So, can you tell us specifically, in terms of trade strategy with Japan, how are you going to make sure that Wales punches above its weight as it did under the Conservative Governments in the 1990s?