Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 13 July 2022.
Yes, in terms of the work that we're doing, of course, it's a relatively recent timescale. Work has been done and anticipated in advance, but until the fantastic occasion at the Cardiff City Stadium when we sealed qualification, we couldn't be certain about where we'd be, and the FAW in particular were keen not to be visibly acting as if we'd already qualified before we had. Actually, in the trade mission, the in-person trade mission, I led to Qatar, it was really helpful to have direct contacts in the UK embassy there, and they've been really clear that they want to be part of supporting all UK nations who qualify, and that's been really helpful. So, we have links there on the ground, but also the GREAT campaign that you mention is both an opportunity and a risk. I would want to see UK Government funds benefitting Wales as they're spent, and the GREAT campaign can't be simply England in another name. England have qualified in their own right, and I look forward to being there to see Wales beat them at the end of our group phase, but we have to be clear that the GREAT campaign is supposed to be about all the constituent parts of Britain, and so that's one of our challenges. So, we are engaging with the UK Government around that.
We're really clear that we don't want to get drawn into something that subsumes our identity, and the projection and the opportunity that this presents, into a wider campaign that doesn't meet our own objectives. That's about the work we want to do within the region itself, but it's also about the ability to project Wales on a world stage, following the WWE event in September here in Cardiff. That's largely because of the ability to have a focus on Wales in a very large market where there's more opportunity for Wales to gain. The fact that our first game is against the USA in the group stage is, actually, a really important opportunity for us. So, it's not just about physically in the region, it's about the world stage too.
I can confirm that the First Minister has asked me to lead work across the Government on delivering and developing a plan with our stakeholders, the FAW and wider. So, I'll be more than happy to update the Chamber on the work of that group, and the increased pace in the work that we're going to need to do over the summer and, indeed, in the few months leading up to our entry onto the world stage in the finals for the first time in 64 years.