3. Statement by the First Minister: Delivering the International Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:21 pm on 11 November 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 3:21, 11 November 2020

Can I thank Paul Davies for those questions? I'll do my best to address a number of them. He asked for some examples of the way in which our contacts in other parts of the world have been of advantage to us during this pandemic. Well, I noted in my opening remarks the way in which we were able to use our contacts in China to secure very important and scarce equipment for a company here in Cardiff, which has gone on to make a major contribution in terms of PPE, not just to Wales but to the whole of the United Kingdom.

I know the Member will remember the flights that came into Cardiff Airport in the early stages of the pandemic, bringing supplies of PPE from other parts of the world. We got those supplies—we got them into Wales—because of the presence we have here on the ground. We were given a gift of some very important masks early on, when they were in very short supply, from Vietnam. We got them from Vietnam because of the visit that the education Minister made to Vietnam and the links that have developed since with that country in the education field. Because of that relationship with Wales, we were able to secure that very important supply.

More generally, through Public Health Wales and through the connections of our chief medical officer, we have had a series of discussions with other nations who've had different and, in some ways, a more successful experience of dealing with coronavirus than has been true in Europe and in this country—so, discussions with South Korea and discussions with New Zealand, for example. We're very fortunate in Public Health Wales to have a body that is very well recognised internationally as a source of expertise. In exchange, we have been able to learn from others.

Mr Davies asked about the brokerage arrangements that we have and the opportunities that have come our way as a result. Well, Llywydd, let me just focus on one of the four priority regional relationships that we set out in our documents, and that's with the Basque Country. I received, in fact, a letter today from the President of the Basque Country, inviting us to visit the Basque Country again as soon as we are able to in 2021, and to take a trade mission to the Basque Country.

The Basque Country had identified Wales as one of its top-five international priority destinations before our own documents were ever published. As a result of that, we have been able to find opportunities to work with Mondragon, the world's largest co-operative series of businesses. We will have benefited by bringing Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles, the train manufacturing company, to Newport. I visited CAF myself when I was in the Basque Country discussing taxation matters with the Basque Government. We have cyber security links with the Basque Country; we have life sciences links; we have agri-food links with the Basque Country. And we were able, Llywydd, in a completely different way, to have a discussion with Basque Government officials, earlier this autumn, about the way in which they were able to conduct their regional elections in June of this year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, thinking ahead to our own elections in May of next year, finding ways in which we can conduct those elections in ways that protect people from the virus and still maximise people's participation.

So, I could replicate that list in relation to the other regions on which we are focusing, but I hope that it gives an indication of the way in which, when you establish these relationships, you get a very strong return indeed in terms of the opportunities that then come Wales's way, in terms of cultural exchange, in terms of economic links, and in terms of long-standing relationships.