6. What support will the Government offer the exporters of Welsh goods in 2023? OQ58935

I thank Joyce Watson, Llywydd. Global trading conditions remain unpredictable as we enter 2023. In addition to the turbulence created by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Welsh exporters face new barriers to trade with our nearest and most important market. We offer practical assistance to partners to adapt to new trading environments and find new opportunities for the future.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. This time last year, the Counsel General told this Senedd that the Welsh Government would maintain or improve EU standards. That commitment is imperative if we are going to erase the continued Brexit burden facing Welsh exporters. At the UK level, we must make Brexit work, and some sort of regulatory alignment for food products and sorting out the Northern Ireland protocol is urgently necessary. The Labour Party has set out how it would do that. But, today, could you comment on the positive news that export values by Welsh businesses have recovered beyond pre-pandemic levels, and indicate how the Welsh Government will help exporters to continue in that vein this year?

Llywydd, can I begin by welcoming the reports that have been seen today of progress in discussions between the UK Government and the European Commission on the Northern Ireland protocol matter? At the heart of that will be the issue of regulatory alignment, to which Joyce Watson has referred. In order to be able to make sure that Welsh exports get unfettered access to the European Union market, our European Union neighbours will need to know that the standards of those goods do not undermine the rest of the single market. So, if progress has been made in the way that's been reported, I certainly welcome that, and it would, I hope, prefigure a different approach to the whole relationship that the United Kingdom needs to have with our nearest and most important market.

As far as Welsh exports are concerned, I thank Joyce Watson for drawing attention to the fact that the value of Welsh exports has recovered beyond pandemic levels. It's a real tribute to the activity of those who work in this field, because the barriers have been real and the barriers continue to exist. Just one word of caution on the figures themselves, Llywydd, which, of course, is that the cash value of exports has been driven up by inflation as well as by the volume of exports. So, there may be a small amount of gloss on those figures that we will need to take into account.

The Welsh Government will go on supporting our exporters in the first half of this year; there are 15 different trade missions planned between now and the end of June. Some of those will be sector specific; there are food trade missions, there are trade missions in the field of games development, which has become such an important part of the UK economy, there are trade missions in the field of aerospace as well as multisector missions. They will go to Dubai, to the United States, to South America, to Japan, to South Korea and to a series of destinations in Europe. And the Welsh Government's support to our exporters will be there to make sure that the success to which Joyce Watson has drawn our attention can be continued from last year into the first half of this.