5. Debate on the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee report: The Welsh Government's Draft International Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:16 pm on 4 March 2020.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 4:16, 4 March 2020

Well, Wales and Africa is certainly a key part of our programme, and so there will be opportunities for Love Zimbabwe to get involved in that programme through that mechanism. Certainly, we're hoping that that platform, that diaspora platform that we'll be creating, will be a place where we can talk about some of those great characters in the past that so many of you talked about—about Evan Roberts, about Richard Price. And I think it's really important that people recognise that there's an opportunity there for us to tell the world about our story, really, and, hopefully, there'll be an opportunity there to talk about some of the religious leaders as well.

On exports, we will be having a renewed export plan, and I'll give more details of this in the next few months as well. I think it's worth flagging at this stage that the potential impact of delivery of our plans could be affected by the spread of coronavirus. We've already had to cancel a mission to China and a trade mission to a games fair in San Francisco. So, this is the problem with setting targets, and we've got a target there, and we'll try and make up for it and we'll try and make up the difference during the five years. But there are things that can throw things out of kilter.

Now, although the strategy focuses on three sectors where we can demonstrate excellence—cyber security, compound semiconductors and the creative industries—I would like to reassure the committee that our focus is absolutely not solely on these three sectors. Of course, we'll be promoting other sectors, but our aim here is to grab global attention through our capability to deliver global excellence. That opens the door for us to talk about so many other areas. So, for example, I've just returned from a visit to north America, and, during my visit, I signed a declaration of intent with Quebec Government. By the way, they were developing their international strategy at exactly the same time as us, and it took them a year to develop their international strategy, and they didn't have Brexit, so I think we're not doing too badly. But part of our plan there is to focus on aerospace and co-operation on aerospace. So, it's absolutely not limited to the three sectors. 

Now, picking up on the committee's point on UK Government relations and co-operations, I was keen, during my visit, to ensure that UK missions overseas are, first of all, aware of our offer and our priorities, and to make sure that they realise that they have a responsibility to promote Wales, our capability and our offer. So, better co-operation with the UK Government, as far as I'm concerned, is absolutely key to success in the international sphere, and I'll be meeting with Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials this week to work out how much more we can do in that space. That's on top of the meetings I've had in the past. Copies of the strategy have been sent to FCO officers throughout the world so that they're aware of our focus.

But whatever we do has got to be seen as additional to what the UK Government offers. We know that we can't deliver the international agenda alone. This is where team Wales comes in. So, as well as cross-Government working—and I already have monthly meetings with the education Minister, very regular meetings with the economy Minister and, over the year, I'll be making sure I have bilateral meetings with other Ministers, so that we can explore some of those areas where they can prioritise—we also have a date set for our first meeting with civil society before the summer. We've already engaged with arts and sports, and museums, for example, are also anxious to make sure that they co-ordinate their activities with us. I'll give more detail to the committee on how we're co-ordinating this activity before the summer. Soft power is crucial. It's really important. But it's also really difficult to measure, so we're back to this difficulty of how we measure our success. We will be using our major events to leverage that Welsh profile as was suggested.

In the strategy, I have identified a number of specific regions where we will focus, where we'll formalise or build on the formal relationships that we already have. You'll know that the Basque country is already one of those areas where we've signed a memorandum of understanding. We have regular contact with the Basque Government, and we've focused on innovation, health and language in that area. Of course, this week, we welcomed the President of the Regional Council of Brittany to Wales, and a delegation from the cultural sector, to reaffirm our commitment to a memorandum of understanding and an action plan post-Brexit.

Certainly, in terms of minority languages, we've been in touch with UNESCO to see how we can co-ordinate our activities, and we lead currently the network of minority languages groups in Europe. So, we'll be looking forward to welcoming those to Wales during the next few months. Now, I'm committed to regularly reviewing the effectiveness and performance of all the activity of the international relations department, including the work undertaken by our overseas offices. That remit of those offices is under review, and that should be published by the end of April.

These two weeks are the most intensive time of the calendar, of course, around St David's Day, as we've got that focus. It was great to have early celebrations in Ottawa, San Francisco and Los Angeles last week, and I'll be celebrating with the international community in London on Thursday and Ireland next week. This week in London there'll be numerous activities co-ordinated by Wales in London.

So, just to finish up, just to say thank you very much again for the work that you've done as a committee. I am very grateful. I think that it's really important to listen to what other people have to offer in terms of how we can leverage our international relations, and I do look forward to working with you in the next few months. Diolch.