I'm very pleased to take part in this debate. May I congratulate the Chair in the first instance on his opening remarks, conveying what needs to be said with regard to this report and the Government's response? Naturally, we do recognise that good work is being done, and we also understand that there isn't a shed load of money available to the Minister. But in the short time available to me, I just wanted to express some ideas—some I've mentioned to the Minister already—with regard to how we can take a step forward on this. I think we need to work to create more natural connections with nations that could have that natural connection with Wales, such as—as has been referred to already—nations with minority languages, languages that aren't the major language—the Basque Country, Catalunya, Brittany, Occitan, Alsace. When you go to Finland, you have Sámi and Karelia; in Germany there's Sorbian and Frisian. There are many minority languages that aren't in the mainstream, and I think those people would just build on those connections.

There's a natural connection with other nations that are smaller nations worldwide: Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, and the 62 independent nations worldwide that are smaller than Wales. I think there would be a natural attraction there in building bridges with those nations, and also connections with other Celtic nations, naturally: Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and so on. But also Britanny, Galicia and Asturias; other Celtic nations too.

Also linkages that we could build upon, because there is a natural way of linking with those nations, such as the rugby-playing countries. We've already heard that debate earlier on. In New Zealand they know about Wales because of the game of rugby; likewise Australia, France, South Africa and so on. We can build those natural links because of what we have in common. There are also countries where the Welsh diaspora has moved over the last two centuries, such as Australia, naturally, and Patagonia in Argentina. There are thousands upon thousands of people from Wales living in Patagonia today, and they speak Welsh as well in Patagonia. In the United States of America there are 1.8 million citizens of the United States who have roots in Wales. In the state of Wisconsin there are almost 30,000 people who have roots in Wales. In New York state, there are 74,000 people with roots in Wales. In Ohio there are 117,000 people who have roots in Wales, and in Pennsylvania there are 155,000 people who also have their roots in Wales. So there are natural links there, as well as the final category, which is those nations that have religious links with Wales, as David Melding has just mentioned—Madagascar, for example, there were missionaries from Wales there; and Mizoram in the south-east of India, where we have a natural link with the Christian faith, based on our religious history. So there are natural linkages.

The second thing is to build on the tendency that there's been for decades now, for our cities, towns and villages to twin with cities, towns and villages worldwide, as I mentioned previously to the Minister. You know that Swansea is twinned with Mannheim and Cork, and so on; Cardiff is twinned with Stuttgart. Even the Mumbles is twinned with Hennebont in Brittany and Havre de Grace in the United States of America, as well as Kinsale, Ireland. I'm sure that we could build on those informal links with regard to twinning that have developed over the decades, and as I've mentioned previously, we could twin anew, for example, with places like Oklahoma state, as I've said previously. Oklahoma City wants to twin with Cardiff. Tulsa, the second city, wants to become twinned with Swansea. We could have those sub-state connections with different places, particularly those states of America that I listed—Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio—that have that strong Welsh background. There could be that natural twinning with those states.

And we shouldn't just stop there: as we are a sub-state, there are other sub-states worldwide with which we have a natural connection, such as Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hessen, Saxony, Friesland, and so on. There are plenty of opportunities here in remembering your geography. Thank you very much.