1. What actions is the Welsh Government taking to support businesses in Islwyn to prepare for the future? OAQ53976

Llywydd, the Welsh Government takes actions across portfolios areas, for example through services provided by Business Wales, the development bank and the economy futures fund. Furthermore, our international strategy will emphasise the importance of supporting trade with our closest neighbours and with the wider world.

First Minister, thank you. More than 200 businesses in Wales have signed up to the Welsh Government's economic contract in its first year. The economic contract is designed with the express intention for the Welsh Government to develop a new and strengthened relationship with business to drive and nurture inclusive growth and responsible business behaviours. First Minister, isn't this dramatic proof that the Welsh Labour Government prioritises growth, supports businesses, and ensures that, in communities throughout Wales, like in Islwyn, business is supported for the very considerable challenges that lie ahead? What further measures, therefore, are the Welsh Labour Government considering as the economic contract moves forward?

Llywydd, can I thank Rhianon Passmore for those additional questions, and thank her for what she has said about the way that the Welsh Government supports businesses here in Wales, support we are determined to continue providing? That is why Wales has been one of the fastest growing parts of the United Kingdom. We have the highest number of active enterprises since comparable records began. The business birth rate in Wales is the highest of the four UK nations. The five-year survival rate, and the one-year survival rate of new Welsh businesses exceeds the survival rates across the United Kingdom. That is testimony both to the resilience of the business sector here in Wales and to the way in which the Welsh Government works with that sector to secure a successful future. 

As far as the economic contract is concerned, we are now extending its reach. It's being included in remit letters that we provide, for example to the national museum, the national library and Transport for Wales, and we intend to apply the economic contract model to the new £50 million Welsh tourism investment fund that we are delivering in partnership with the Development Bank of Wales—further examples, Llywydd, of the way in which this Government goes on working positively with businesses right across Wales. 

First Minister, last year, Wales saw the largest increase in the value of exports—£17.2 billion, with a rise of 4.2 per cent compared with 2017. Exports to EU countries rose by 5.6 per cent—just over £0.5 billion—compared to an increase of just over 2 per cent to non-EU countries. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that companies in Islwyn, and in the rest of Wales, have the support they need to take full advantage of the opportunities provided post Brexit to trade with the rest of the world? 

I thank the Member for pointing to the success that there has been in the Welsh economy in relation to exports, a success that we are very keen to build on further. I'm pleased to tell the Member that I met yesterday, as my colleague Eluned Morgan did, with the Japanese ambassador, who was visiting Cardiff yesterday. He's been in Wales again today. He was here to make sure that we have the closest relationship between this Government and the Japanese Government as we move towards the Rugby World Cup, in order to make sure that Welsh businesses are as well placed as possible to take advantage of the platform that the world cup will provide, when knowledge of Wales will be at a higher level as a result of exposure through sport than would otherwise have been the case. And we will go on working, through the ambassador and through our contacts with the Japanese Government, to make sure that Welsh businesses and Welsh exporters are fully equipped to take advantage of those opportunities.