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 4:22 pm on 4 March 2020.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 4:22, 4 March 2020

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I thank all Members for their contributions this afternoon to the debate, and obviously the Minister for her response as well? I'm very pleased with that. I just want to highlight a few things, because it's very interesting—quite a few people aired their visions as to how we can use things to actually push the Welsh agenda forward, whether it be, as David highlighted, the diaspora and pushing that a bit further. But then he reminded us of our great cultural heritage as well, including the religious element of that cultural heritage. And as came out—Huw Irranca joined in the recognition of the religious heritage as well.

But I think that that highlights the fact that there is so much going on in Wales that we can use to promote Wales and its history and how we have been able to influence other aspects of the world, and let's build upon that. Dai Lloyd reminded us about the minority languages. I was in discussion with Dafydd Trystan this week, who said that he had been to, or discussed with, the University of Hawaii, and how they thought that Wales was doing a fantastic job on minority languages and developing it, and that we should be using that as an example of good practice across the world on minority languages, and we should be a beacon for that.

Again, yes, he highlighted another point. We raised in this in committee—the twinning relationships that exist between cities and towns across this country with nations and countries and nations and cities elsewhere. Let's not waste that. Let's build upon that relationship. These are means by which we can create and build those relationships and develop them even more. I think that Huw did highlight, though, that there is a need for granulation at some point. We will need to look at how can we scrutinise the progress of the Welsh Government. Minister, in your response, you talked about we wouldn't wait five years. Well, sorry, we might not even be here in five years' time. The Assembly has 14 months left, and we want to be able, before we finish this Assembly, to see how progress is being made on that. So, I'm very pleased that you will be looking at some of the points coming to us, and we will be scrutinising that.

Darren, yes, the faith community is, again, a very important aspect. There are so many within Wales now that we should be looking at how we can use their links internationally as well—not just the Christian faith, but all faiths, in that sense. Rhun, yes—. By the way, good luck on the weekend against the UK Parliament; we wish you well. But he highlighted the point that, actually, there are things with this institution, the CPA, where the Welsh voice can be very clearly heard, and we should use that voice as best we can. I know Members who do go, whether it's the CPA, whether it's BIPA or other means; they use that opportunity to make sure that the Welsh voice is listened to and that it's recognised. But I think he also agreed with Rhun that the document should be a dynamic document—it shouldn't be something where we can say, 'There it is; let's look back at it in five years' time.' It should be dynamic, it should be evolving as we go through this, and we shouldn't be afraid to make that evolution of the document.

Minister, I do agree with you—there are many challenges facing us. We are in uncertain times. We don't know what the relationship will be, and you highlight that's perhaps the reason why you haven't given us detailed targets. But I think we should be still be preparing those targets, because there are probably two outcomes as to what will happen at the end of this year—one outcome is we will not have a relationship with the EU; the other one we will—and I think on both of those of those outcomes we could start preparing for that avenue.

And, by the way, Quebec—I'm very pleased you actually have a relationship with Quebec, because let's not forget that Quebec was actually one of the drivers of CETA, the comprehensive economic and trade agreement. Because they're the ones that wanted to drive the Canadian relationship with the EU. And, as a state in Canada, they were technically in the background, legally, because of the process, but they were the ones at the front, driving it. So, they have that history, and they have that experience of international relations there. So, I'm sure that comparisons of our relationship strategy and their relationship strategy would be quite interesting, to see how that works.

Minister, you actually mentioned that one other important thing—everybody else talked about it—is soft power. That's the crucial element, and that's why Huw raised the question of the Brussels office, because it is well recognised that the soft power of the Brussels office is excellent, and we should be building upon that expertise. Wales has a great opportunity to use soft power very much more, whether it be in cultural, sporting or other forms of activities, and let's not miss the opportunities.

Now, we've left the European Union—we all know that—but we are ploughing ahead with the international arena. Whether that future's uncertain, we don't know, but we know there is a future for us, and that's important, and we drive towards that. And it's a concerted effort for businesses, civil society and Government to shout louder and shout proudly of who we are, what we do here in Wales, and what Wales can offer others. That should provide us with a strong basis to navigate the waters. And I think there might be choppy waters ahead of us. But I look forward to holding you to account in the years ahead—or the 14 months ahead, anyway. So, thank you, everyone, for contributions. I hope you support the motion this afternoon.