THE First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford AM was in Belfast on Friday when he appealed for bridge-building across the Irish Sea despite the headwinds of Brexit.
The Welsh premier made the appeal at the gala banquet of the Belfast International Homecoming in City Hall.
He also said he was envious of the strong global Irish American networks – which were represented at the three day Homecoming event which showcased the best of Belfast to the Irish diaspora.
Mr Drakeford praised the “well organised diaspora” of Ireland and Scotland for promoting their country’s “practical interests around the globe”, but called for better self-organisation to protect Welsh interests in the context of Brexit.
“There are Welsh people, too, around the world,” he said.
“They are just as passionate about their identity and the home from which they have sprung – but they don’t yet operate in that organised way we see in this room.
“For us, that means we have to work harder – and harder still in the headwinds of Brexit – to sustain our profile and our unique identity on the international stage. Since I became First Minister, in December last year, we have an International Relations Minister in our Cabinet – an idea completely unthinkeable at the start of devolution. We have a highly regarded International Strategy, which is being discussed and debated across Wales.”
Mr Drakeford stressed the importance of forging links between people on “different sides of the Irish Sea”, particularly those from “Celtic nations”.
“Amongst us all are links of language, of history, of culture, of economic identity and, in many instances of progressive political outlook,” he said.
“We all share the presence of a powerful neighbour, with a global and dominant language and a well-developed sense of its own significance. In the Brexit context – and beyond it too – we have had the best results, I believe, when we have been able to work together, in an informal Celtic alliance, to provide a more powerful counterweight to hard line leave propositions than we could have mobilised working on our own.
“And in the difficult days ahead, I think the effort to identify common interests, to act with a sense of solidarity in their pursuit, and to create outcomes which work for us all – that effort will be needed as never before.”
