4. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote St David's Day? OQ57691

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government uses our national day as a platform to raise the profile and awareness of Wales across the world. Today alone, events will take place in Tokyo, Dublin, London, Washington, Brussels, Dubai, Beijing and Bangalore.

Diolch, First Minister. And can I start by wishing you, your family, and everybody in this Chamber a very happy St David's Day? First Minister, with so much uncertainty and devastation in the world, we must be thankful on our special day here in Wales, St David's Day, gives us the opportunity to highlight some of the amazing things we do here in Wales, from the fantastic food and drink we produce, to promoting our Welsh language, our rich history, our culture and our heritage, and the warm welcome we give to everyone. St David's Day is promoted wider than here in Wales—our business sector do this via Wales Week London, where many top Welsh businesses go to promote their businesses and their products to a wider audience, to boost trade and tourism opportunities for Wales, along with other events around the world. So, First Minister, what more work and support can the Welsh Government provide to St David's Day, to our businesses and the people of Wales, to provide economic benefits to all? Diolch, Llywydd.

Llywydd, I thank James Evans for that question. It was very good to have this question, with St David's Day falling on a Tuesday this year. And it does provide a genuine platform for us to be able to raise the profile and awareness of Wales. I was very pleased myself to begin the day, quite early on this morning, in signing a memorandum of understanding with the Governor of Ōita province in Japan, building on the relations that were set down when the Welsh rugby team was based in that part of Japan during the Rugby World Cup, and what a fantastic welcome the team had in that part of Japan. And it's led since to both economic links, cultural links, links between young people from Wales and that part of Japan, and we were able to formalise that in a new memorandum between Wales and Ōita this morning.

The economy Minister, as I said earlier, is in Dubai today, where the UK pavilion at the World Expo event is being given over to Wales, a whole Welsh day there, and that is focused primarily on food and drink and on businesses promoting what Wales can do in that part of the world. I myself, at the end of today, Llywydd, will be in the Canadian embassy in London, again with a group of other people, because 2022 is the year of Wales in Canada. We've had fantastic support from the Canadian Government, and from the Government of Quebec where we have particular links, and this afternoon will be an opportunity to give that a different level of profile and to put the sort of energy into that year that will mean that it will match the success of last year's Wales in Germany events, which were outstandingly successful in raising the profile of Wales as an economic destination, as a tourist destination, as a place of exchanges between cultural and sporting organisations, and therefore to promote people's understanding of Wales and the opportunities that those links provide for them and provide for us as well.

One final question, then, before you go off to promote Wales in all those places. [Laughter.] 

Question 5, Paul Davies.