Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Our Welsh food and drink sector continues to go from strength to strength and is a foundation of our economy, with 217,000 workers across the supply chain, which includes agriculture, manufacturing, retail, catering and wholesale, complementing tourism and projecting a positive image of Wales to the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at Blas Cymru 2019, our showcase trade event, where we brought international and UK buyers to our producers and products.

Success is built on partnership. The Food and Drink Wales Industry Board has been our energetic partner. Together we are catalysing ambition, creating routes to market, removing barriers and promoting a sector of growing reach and renown. Of course we face challenges, the most immediate being Brexit. However, we must also work to increase productivity, develop businesses to become more resilient and sustainable, and maintain our reputation for high production standards in order to ensure that the industry can thrive in a competitive marketplace.

Bringing businesses together is integral to tackling these challenges and promoting long-term success. This is a cornerstone of our approach and recipe for success. A key ingredient in this is our very well developed food and drink cluster network. The cluster network is an ambitious programme that aims to create real step change in the industry. It was developed to better support the industry by creating a platform for like-minded businesses to collaborate and receive sector-specific support. It facilitates sector growth, sharing of resources, knowledge and expertise through networking events and workshops, and it creates resilience in our supply chains by developing a web of connections and mutually reinforcing relationships.

Clusters are integral to success in industry throughout the world. They naturally evolve: technology in Silicon Valley; leather footwear and textiles in northern Italy; and finance in the City of London, to name a few. By bringing businesses and talent together, they promote innovation and development. Success breeds success. Our strategy is to accelerate clustering. Through integrated support from Government, technical know-how through Food Innovation Wales and Project Helix, and the ambition of our board, our growing cluster family can help Wales's food and drink industry to continue to develop and thrive.

There are now eight clusters within the Welsh food and drink cluster network, with over 450 Welsh businesses involved. At Blas Cymru, the cluster learning zone enabled face-to-face connections to be made between cluster members and other partners. Our clusters range from groups of businesses that produce a certain type of food or drink, to businesses with different products but shared goals and ambitions, such as export or high-value products.

Our export club enables businesses to collaborate and share experiences regarding exporting, facilitating seasoned exporters and those who are just starting on this journey to discuss hurdles and opportunities in exporting. We've introduced the export buddy system, pairing a seasoned exporter with an export novice to keep the companies accountable and motivated. We have also developed links to international collaborative initiatives, furthering our ambition to increase both exports and inward investment and raising Wales's international profile. The Atlantic Food Export Project is bringing businesses from Wales together with businesses from regions in France, Spain, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland to overcome barriers to export and improve competitiveness in international markets.

The nutrifoods cluster includes over 75 businesses and organisations collaborating on projects ranging from food engineering to a strategic decarbonisation programme. It involves the future foods programme at Aberystwyth University and our food centres across the country, with the aim of increased research and development in the food industry, making it truly innovative and sustainable in an increasingly competitive environment.

The high-impact cluster is focused on addressing the urgent problem of waste. It has identified waste reduction opportunities, also worth tens of thousands of pounds of direct savings, for the businesses involved. This helps business and wider prosperity and it helps Wales’s well-being, being in alignment with the Welsh Government strategy 'Towards Zero Waste' and its aim of 70 per cent recycling by 2025, and 100 per cent by 2050. The cluster is now looking to take matters further, having recently held a conference focussed on waste and resource efficiency, which I am confident will generate new solutions to address packaging waste.

The drinks cluster has collaborated with the Food and Drink Wales Industry Board to develop an overarching drink sector strategy to support this diverse and valuable part of our industry. It is developing special interest groups, working towards specific and focused strategic projects. Our fine food cluster members have really appreciated the ability to network, with companies partnering to successfully pitch to buyers at Blas Cymru, and are now even sharing salesmen. This shows that the network is not just about companies being supported by the cluster, but the active support cluster members give each other.

The seafood cluster is raising awareness of our fishery products industry. They have created informative videos about this industry and established a branding and banding special interest group, aiming to increase traceability and awareness of provenance of the shellfish catch. They're also establishing the Welsh seafood directory to signpost where you can buy delicious Welsh seafood across the country.

More recently established is the honey cluster, which is raising the profile of the products of Welsh beekeepers and helping to share best practice amongst them.

As we develop the new strategic plan for the food and drink industry in Wales, we are looking to learn the lessons of these successes to build on these foundations and ensure that the cluster network continues to thrive into the future. The networks they are creating with each other, and into the wider supply chain, are creating resilience in our food system. This has proved an inspirational journey, a beacon for what we can achieve in Wales, supporting our vision to create a prosperous and fair nation of world-class renown.