2. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to strengthen the relationship between Wales and countries that have strong links to our most diverse communities? OAQ54724

The Welsh Government recognises and celebrates the value and contribution that our diverse communities make to Wales as a whole. We make every effort to cherish and strengthen those relationships, including ministerial visits overseas and hosting events to celebrate festivals with the international diaspora community in Wales.

Thank you for that response, Minister. In Newport East, we're very fortunate in having diverse communities, including strong Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, and, of course, they have many links with Pakistan and Bangladesh. I just wonder to what extent Welsh Government is drawing on that heritage and those links in fostering its relationships and the trade and the general activity that take place between Wales and those countries.

Thank you. Well, what's come across very clearly to me in developing the international strategy is that we can't do this alone—we have to use all of the networks available to us, and we have very strong networks and communities, as you say, in particular the Bangladeshi community and those from Pakistan. So, we are trying to develop now a mechanism to make sure that they know what our messages are to make sure that we can communicate with them and, hopefully, they can communicate back home to some of the countries that their families are from.

But I do think that it's important that we celebrate the contribution that these people make to our country. I'm sure you'll be aware that the Welsh Government has extended our community cohesion programme for an extra two years, contributing an extra £1.52 million to that. But also I think it's important to celebrate what they give to us as a society, so, recently, I've celebrated Diwali, for example, with many of the Members here, but also I think we could do more to celebrate some of the national days. Bangladesh, for example, came, and there were lots of representatives from Newport when the cricket team came from Bangladesh during the world cup. So, I think there are opportunities, and I know, for example, Bangladesh will be celebrating 50 years of independence, and I hope that will give us an opportunity in 2021 to celebrate with them on that occasion.

I think you can guess what I'm going to ask you about, Minister, before I utter the words. John Griffiths and I have done a fair amount of work over the last couple of years with the Love Zimbabwe charity, based in Abergavenny. The charity has, as the Minister will be aware, done a great deal to build relations between Abergavenny—and Wales, indeed—and Zimbabwe. Can I thank the Minister for the recent meeting that she held with me and David and Martha Holman from the charity? As you know, there are a number of exciting projects in the pipeline. Can you tell how you're working with other towns, and villages, indeed, across Wales to try and build up those links between Wales and Africa? We've heard about the links with Pakistan and with communities in Asia. There's a lot to be done—and this Assembly has done a lot in the past—to build up relations between Wales and Africa, and I think that there's a lot to be gained, as you know yourself, from those relationships. I know that the mutual people, both in Africa and here in Wales, really do benefit from them.

Thank you, and it was really a pleasure to meet Martha and others from the Love Zimbabwe group, and it's amazing the kind of energy that they bring to the table and they've really galvanised the community. I think that's really what we'd like to see more of. We've got to harness that energy, and that's some of the things that we do with the Wales for Africa programme. There's an opportunity for people to bid into the programme. There are thousands of people involved in hundreds of organisations across the whole of Wales, and there's an opportunity for them to bid in so that they can develop some of their programmes. I'm delighted to see that Love Zimbabwe has been one of those beneficiaries in the past.