6. Statement by the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales, and Trefnydd: BlasCymru/TasteWales — Promoting Welsh food and drink to the world

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:04 pm on 18 January 2022.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 5:04, 18 January 2022

Thank you, Jane, for your comments and questions. I just realised I didn't answer Samuel's question around Peter Fox's Bill, and just to say: it's not that I object to it; I think we're doing a lot of what Peter had proposed, and I certainly look forward to working with Peter around the community food strategy. I think a lot of what he wants to achieve in the Bill can be put in there and, as I promised him, I will certainly work with him on that. I think you're right: I think there are great opportunities in the agriculture Bill. We're currently working very hard to get that introduced before the summer recess and, obviously, more information will be coming out over the coming months.

It's really easy to be enthusiastic about Welsh food and drink. I always say, 'What's not to like about being the Minister responsible for Welsh food and drink?' It's very easy to sell. I've been very lucky, pre COVID, I was able to go to other countries to promote it. And, of course, that has been stopped, and that's why it was so important to have that third BlasCymru. Obviously, it had been postponed from March of last year—we have it biannually—but I was really keen to make sure that we did go ahead with it. It was very important to do it in a COVID-secure way to make people feel comfortable. It is really our opportunity to bring the world to Wales to see what we have to offer. It's really important that we continue, having left the European Union, to attend events, such as Anuga, which is held in Cologne every other year, and SIAL, which is held in Paris every other year. And, again, Anuga was postponed. I think it's now going ahead in April of this year, and then Paris will be in October. And, again, we always take food and drink companies to these food events; we always have a big Welsh Government presence there. We'll have Gulfood coming up in Dubai next month and, again, there will be Welsh Government presence. And we've carried on doing it virtually, because it is so important that people are aware of our food and drink businesses.

I've already spoken about the export group that we've now got as part of the food and drink industry board to help work with our businesses, because certainly we are getting—and I don't think it's just anecdotal—evidence of the difficulties that companies are having just to continue to do what they had been doing previously to export to the EU—the red tape, the difficulties with logistics, et cetera. So, we are continuing to work with our food and drink companies.

I mentioned the rising stars before, and Cywain, in my answer to Mabon ap Gwynfor. It's really important that we nurture them in the way that Menter a Busnes have. You were at the winter fair—in fact, I think I met you in the food hall—where we always have some of the new food and drink companies at the Cywain stand. So, we will continue to work with all our food and drink companies over the coming months.