4. What steps has the Welsh Government taken to develop its relationship with the European Union and member states post Brexit? OQ55999

A positive relationship with the EU will remain an important priority for the Welsh Government whatever the outcome of the EU-UK negotiations, as our international strategy makes clear. We continue to foster that through engagement with EU institutions, member states, regions and networks, and in particular through our Brussels office.

UK membership of the European Union bestowed great benefits on Wales, including enabling our country to play a significant role on the European stage in the Council of Ministers, European Parliament, Committee of the Regions and associated groupings. Outside the EU, I believe we should ensure the closest possible relationship with the European Union, and that should include the regions, with many of whom we have long enjoyed strong relationships, and also Members of the Senedd, who can add to the work of Welsh Government Ministers in maintaining Wales's profile. I think we should carefully consider European organisations and groupings to which we may fruitfully contribute.

[Inaudible.]—with John Griffiths's supplementary question, we take every opportunity to maintain those relationships. In September, for example, the First Minister, the then Minister for international relations and I each met the EU ambassador to the UK. That's obviously a new appointment, but that EU ambassador came to Cardiff. We've also been successfully chairing the Vanguard Initiative throughout 2020, which is a significant inter-regional grouping that focuses on smart specialisation on a collaborative basis to boost innovative industries. And he will know—he mentioned in his question the role of parliamentarians in that, and the UK contact group for the Committee of the Regions has representatives from this Senedd: David Rees, and Russell George as the alternative. Those are all important ways of maintaining that network of contacts, both at a member state level, a parliamentary level, but also at a regional level. And he will know from the international strategy that engagement at a regional level with Brittany, the Basque Country and Flanders in particular is an essential part of our important network of communications across the European Union into the future.