Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:49 pm on 8 January 2020.
I note your comments to the first international trade dinner of the South Wales Chamber of Commerce just before Christmas. During your speech, you mentioned the focus on data mining and cyber security, trumpeting Wales being the largest cluster for cyber companies in the UK. Now, jobs, particularly in the most deprived parts of our country, are much needed and I recognise that cyber security is a fast-growing sector that will play an increasingly important role in the years to come. But, what I find hard to accept is the Welsh Government funding of cyber security initiatives run by companies involved in the arms trade. Take the £20 million cyber centre that you've established with the French arms manufacturer Thales. This arrangement effectively makes the Government an investor in a company that produces arms for despotic regimes like Saudi Arabia. Thales is also believed to be supplying components for Russian tanks. Do you agree that we should have an ethical responsibility to invest in companies not involved in the business of producing weapons designed to maim and kill? How does that fit in with the Government's policies for well-being of future generations? And if you don't agree that we should have an ethical responsibility, can you explain to this Senedd why not?