Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:50 pm on 14 January 2020.
Thank you. Minister, tomorrow I'll be doing a short debate talking about some of Wales's heroes—recognised and unrecognised—which I think, actually, will play a part in the international strategy and the need for the links that we establish with international countries. But what I wanted to do now is just refer to a theme that I've raised in this Chamber and with you a number of times about how we actually project Wales's image, and that's on the back of our art and our culture.
Of course, you'll be very aware of the world champion Cory Band, who have been world champions so many times and who are fantastic ambassadors for Wales. When you look at their itinerary: they've just returned from America, clearly an area that we want to develop our relations with; they are attending in Lithuania, in Palanga in April 2020, the European championships; they will then be in South Korea in August 2020; they will be in Ireland, in Kilkenny, in April 2020; they will be in Japan in 2021; they have concerts lined up in Austria, Lille in France, and in Brussels. I wonder, Minister, if you could perhaps put a little bit more meat on the strategy as to how, when we have ambassadors like this, we can integrate their tours and their cultural activities all over the world with the agenda of the Welsh Government promoting Wales, promoting our cultural links and our economic links.
One of the issues that we have within Wales is that, of course, many parts of the world don't really know where we are; they don't know much about Wales. It is through culture that people can learn so much and can engage. And it seems to me, over the past decade or so, we have missed the opportunity of bands like the Cory Band, but also some of the folk dance groups and some of the many other wonderful cultural assets that we have.