Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 5 February 2020.

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Photo of David Lloyd David Lloyd Plaid Cymru 2:39, 5 February 2020

Your strategy goes on to say that you will raise Wales's profile by working with Welsh diaspora, alumni and partner organisations, focusing in the first year on the USA and Japan, and identifying influential Welsh people around the world. You say also that you will create a comprehensive database of Welsh links, with an aim to create 500,000 contacts in five years. However, the international strategy doesn't go on to elaborate what exactly you'll do with those links once they've been forged. For example, will you be looking into twinning arrangements? You will recall there was a business and university enterprises trade mission from Oklahoma state here last year. And may I just say, my youngest son lives in Oklahoma—I know the state well. And they wanted a twinning arrangement: Oklahoma City with Cardiff, and their second city, Tulsa, with Swansea. Are there moves to suggest that sort of thing? And also, for example, would you be willing to look at, in the USA context again, state-level joint-working co-operation, say, with Wisconsin? Back in the day, Wisconsin had 300 Welsh language chapels. It had a huge inpouring at the time of Welsh people, as did Ohio and New York state. So, Pennsylvania—you name a US state and those 1.8 million people there of Welsh descent are liberally sprinkled everywhere. So, are you looking to forge state-level co-operation as well?