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Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Mae Cymru ar agor ar gyfer busnes. Rydyn ni’n genedl â chryfderau economaidd sylweddol. Ledled ein gwlad, rydyn ni’n gweld mentrau ffyniannus, diwydiannau sy’n gystadleuol yn fyd-eang, prifysgolion cryf, gweithlu medrus iawn, a chyfleoedd go iawn mewn sectorau fel gweithgynhyrchu uwch ac ynni glân. Mae'r rhain yn asedau y byddai llawer o wledydd yn eiddigeddus ohonynt. Ac eto, ers gormod o amser, nid ydym wedi llwyddo i elwa ar y cryfderau hynny er mwyn cyflawni'r lefel o berfformiad economaidd y dylem ei disgwyl. Nid diffyg potensial yw'r her ganolog sy'n ein hwynebu; mae'n fethiant i'w wireddu’n llawn. Yn rhy aml, nid yw'r gwahanol rannau o'n system economaidd—buddsoddiad, seilwaith, y byd academaidd, sgiliau, allforio, cynllunio ac arloesi—wedi cyd-fynd â’i gilydd. Pan fydd yr elfennau hyn ar draws y sector preifat a’r sector cyhoeddus yn cysylltu ac yn atgyfnerthu ei gilydd, mae twf yn dilyn. Pan nad ydyn nhw'n gwneud hynny, mae cyfle yn cael ei golli.

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Thank you very much, Llywydd. Wales is open for business. We are a nation with considerable economic strengths. Across our country, we see thriving enterprises, globally competitive industries, strong universities, a highly skilled workforce, and real opportunities in sectors such as advanced manufacturing and clean energy. These are assets that many nations would envy. And yet, for too long, we have not translated those strengths into the level of economic performance we should expect. It's not a lack of potential that's the central challenge we face, it's a failure to fully realise it. Too often, the different parts of our economic system—investment, infrastructure, academia, skills, export, planning and innovation—have not worked in alignment. When these elements across the private and public sectors connect and reinforce one another, growth follows. And when they do not, opportunity is lost.

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That's why this Government is placing productivity at the heart of its approach. Productivity is the foundation of long-term prosperity. It underpins wages, living standards and competitiveness. Today, Wales continues to lag behind, with productivity around 15 per cent lower than the UK average. But productivity is not an abstract measure; it's about raising incomes, creating better jobs, and ensuring prosperity is shared all across Wales. At its heart, productivity depends on two things: the capabilities of our people and the performance of our firms. It is shaped by whether businesses can innovate, scale, adopt new technologies and compete in higher-value markets, and by whether people have the skills to contribute, adapt and progress. That's why we are adopting a new approach, a mission to tackle productivity and a target to reduce Wales’s productivity gap by half with the UK within 10 years. And now the work begins to realise that ambition. We're moving towards a whole-system model. Our mission is clear: to strengthen productivity, enabling firms to grow, invest and innovate, supported by a skills system that equips people not just for work, but for progression. Entrepreneurs, education, finance, innovators and businesses are the engine of economic growth. Our responsibility is to create the conditions in which businesses can succeed. That means removing the blockers they face—whether in planning, access to energy, access to finance, or infrastructure. It also means ensuring that the support around them—skills, research and innovation—actively supports their development and growth. We will make Wales the easiest place in the United Kingdom to start, grow and invest in a business.

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Nid yw hyn yn ymwneud â gostwng safonau, mae'n ymwneud â gwella sut mae'r Llywodraeth a'i phartneriaid yn gweithio, bod yn gliriach am flaenoriaethau ac yn gyflymach wrth wneud penderfyniadau i gydgysylltu'r systemau y mae busnesau'n dibynnu arnynt.  Her allweddol y mae'n rhaid inni fynd i'r afael â hi yw maint busnesau. Ychydig iawn o fusnesau yng Nghymru sy'n tyfu i'r maint lle gallant fuddsoddi yn hyderus mewn arloesi, gwneud defnydd llawn o'r sgiliau sydd ar gael a chystadlu mewn marchnadoedd gwerth uwch. Felly, byddwn ni’n canolbwyntio ar gefnogi cwmnïau i dyfu, gan gryfhau'r sylfeini sy'n galluogi'r twf hwnnw. Mae diwygio ein system sgiliau yn ganolog i hyn. Byddwn ni’n sicrhau bod y ddarpariaeth sgiliau yn cyd-fynd yn agosach ag anghenion economaidd, gan sicrhau ei bod yn cefnogi gweithgarwch gwerth uwch ac yn galluogi unigolion i symud i rolau â chyflogau gwell. Byddwn ni’n cryfhau cysylltiadau rhwng addysg, cyflogwyr a sefydliadau ymchwil, fel bod gwybodaeth yn llifo'n fwy effeithiol i'r economi. Ochr yn ochr â hyn, byddwn ni’n adeiladu system arloesi gryfach, gan gefnogi cwmnïau i fabwysiadu technolegau newydd, buddsoddi mewn ymchwil a datblygu ac elwa yn llawn ar gryfderau ymchwil sylweddol Cymru. Rydyn ni’n cydnabod hefyd fod rhai o'r ffactorau sy'n llywio ein heconomi y tu hwnt i reolaeth ddatganoledig. Dyna pam y byddwn ni’n gweithio'n adeiladol gyda Llywodraeth y Deyrnas Gyfunol, gan alinio polisi a buddsoddiad lle bynnag y mae er budd Cymru i wneud hynny.

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This is not about lowering standards, it's about improving how the Government and its partners work, being clearer about priorities and faster in decision making to join up the systems on which businesses depend. A key challenge we must address is business scale. Too few Welsh businesses grow to the size where they can invest confidently in innovation, make full use of available skills and compete in higher value markets. So, we will focus on supporting firms to grow, to scale up, while strengthening the foundations that enable that growth. Reform of our skills system is central to this. We will align skills provision more closely with economic need, ensuring it supports higher value activity and enables individuals to move into better paid roles. We will strengthen links between education, employers and research institutions, so that knowledge flows more effectively into the economy. Alongside this, we will build a stronger innovation system, supporting firms to adopt new technologies, invest in research and development and benefit fully from Wales’s significant research strengths. We recognise too that some of the factors shaping our economy lie beyond devolved control. That's why we will work constructively with the UK Government, aligning policy and investment wherever it is in Wales’s interests to do so.

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Partnership will be critical at every level. We will work closely with businesses, who understand the barriers to growth in real time. We will identify the barriers firms face, assign clear responsibility for resolving them, and ensure that they are addressed quickly and effectively. When a business in Wales wants to grow, innovate or invest in its workforce, it should know exactly where to go. And when something stands in its way, it should know exactly who is responsible for fixing it. Likewise, we will work with trade unions, who bring essential insight into workforce conditions, skills needs and the lived experience of workers across our economy. Their combined perspectives will help ensure our policies are effective, inclusive and grounded in reality. But delivering this agenda also requires change in how we operate as a Government. A key step will be the establishment of a new national development agency. This will be a modern, agile organisation operating at arm’s length from Government and drawing, crucially, on private sector expertise. Its purpose will be clear: to support growth of Welsh-owned businesses, attract inward investment and strengthen innovation and capability across sectors. This new agency will provide focus, connecting businesses with finance, investment-ready sites and premises, advice, skills, innovation, research and export markets. I look forward to announcing the next steps, including the establishment group, in the coming weeks. Llywydd, This is a moment of opportunity. Wales has the assets, the talent, and potential to succeed. What is now needed is leadership and delivery. It requires focus and a relentless emphasis on delivery. It requires a Government prepared to make choices and act with pace. And it requires a clear mission, one that puts productivity, people and firms at its core. That is our mission. Diolch yn fawr.

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Well, could I first of all congratulate the Member on his appointment to this important opposition position? I look forward to engaging with him, both in the course of scrutiny in this Chamber, but also more widely as well. There is no monopoly on good ideas, and I think it's important that we engage to the extent that is possible, in a constructive way, to try and collectively help Wales achieve its economic potential. I'll start with—in that spirit—there were some elements in there where there was common ground, and we're keen to build up the common ground, ultimately. As a nation, this is a collective endeavour. We all have a role to play. Opposition parties—I know; I've occupied that position—also have an important role to play, not only in contributing ideas, but also holding us accountable to the target that we've set. We agree that creating a business environment that is the most conducive in order to allow businesses to achieve their potential is absolutely essential. We're committed to do that, and we've said we want to hear the ideas of business, principally, because of course they will have the best information about how we can do that. But if the party of the Member from Reform also has practical ideas that we can put into place, short, medium and long-term, then he will find that my door is open. We're all about building consensus where we can. There was an interesting kind of consensus there between the opposition spokesperson and, indeed, the previous administration, because they both agreed that there was no need for a development agency. I would say: look, we want to be evidence led, and the evidence from right across the world shows pretty conclusively, if you ask pretty much any leading economist in this area, that development agencies are the tried-and-tested tool for any nation, region or anywhere else that has driven up the kind of trajectory in terms of productivity growth that I've described. Is it the only thing that you should do? Absolutely not. We're not going to achieve it just through the development agency, but it's a pretty necessary tool in the toolbox, based on the experience elsewhere. In terms of the town centres, we absolutely are committed to having a revitalised town-centre strategy for town centres the length and breadth of Wales. They are important in their own right as employers, but they're also critically important in other ways. If we want to attract and retain talent, the quality of place in our communities is absolutely intrinsic in order to achieve that goal as well. So, they are right four-square, front and centre, part of our economic strategy. We will be setting up a town-centre taskforce. We're committed to do that in the first 100 days, and, again, if there are ideas—. I heard a lot of negativity, but if there are positive ideas from the party behind me or anyone else, we are in the business of taking the best ideas that we have, and turning Wales into the best place to set up and grow a business to drive our economic progress along the ambitious but achievable goal that I've set out today.

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I welcome the opposition spokesperson, the Labour spokesperson, to her post as well, and I look forward to engaging in detail on all of the issues that she raised. I think that it's important to bring us back, isn't it, to the focus of today, which is the announcement of a goal, a target, which we lacked for 20 years. And one thing that we—. Nobody can absolutely predict the future with 100 per cent certainty. It's not possible, right. But one thing we can predict: if you don't have a goal at all, if you don't have a target at all, you'll never achieve it; you can't even measure progress. And that's why the first step in any plan to revitalise the Welsh economy is to be clear about the direction of travel. In the absence of that clarity in the previous administration, we had decades of drift, didn't we? So, we are setting that right. Actually, I think we've broken all governmental land speed records here. I'm not even three weeks in to being Minister for the economy, and yet we have set out clearly the goal that we are setting for the Welsh economy over the next decade. And what flows from that then? Many of the things that she's talked about, I agree with. Look, we have to increase the speed of decision making, but part of that comes from aligning your actions, keeping a focus, and you can't do that unless you have a clear goal. Now that we have that, of course, work is already ongoing—many of the elements that she referred to, in terms of the development agency and the role of the development agency. Yes, foreign direct investment will remain, for our economy, as for any economy, an important element within our economic strategy. What it cannot be—. To reference some of the comments from earlier as well, it can't be the only element. It has to be balanced with actually investing in the capability of our own business base, because, of course, they are rooted firms, they are embedded firms, they will actually deliver the platform for long-term growth. But, of course, foreign direct investment can play a part in building up clusters and sectoral competitive advantage, and we will use the development agency to deliver that kind of knowledge and action in a way that will be far more effective than was possible under the previous administration. We'll have a further opportunity to talk about how the different elements within my portfolio, connectivity, enterprise—. We've made it very clear, of course, that all of these things—economic infrastructure, which includes transport and digital infrastructure, which includes energy as well—all of that needs to be aligned towards this single economic mission goal. If we get that right, if we get the different parts of the system, then, actually, we can really motor. It's important, though, that that energy system delivers for the needs of Wales. We've been here before at other energy revolutions, haven't we, which didn't deliver for Wales. Part of that is about ownership, part of that is understanding what are the energy needs of our communities and our businesses. And yes, that should actually be reflected in competitive advantage for businesses from our energy potential but also, wherever possible, through community ownership actually delivering lower bills for our people as well.

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I really welcome the spirit in which the Member has offered her remarks, and I certainly will be taking up her offer of working together, where it is possible, to design solutions to the problems that the people we all represent collectively face in their daily lives, and, in this context, in ensuring that we get the best possible economic outcomes. New ideas from any direction, I think, are absolutely incredibly valuable, and we will approach this important responsibility that we have in a collaborative manner, in the way that she described. In relation to some of the specifics, the Member is right to point to the absolute centrality of infrastructure. If we think about the productivity goal that we've set out as the mission today, then, you know, most economists would say that there are three key elements in terms of the long-term success of achieving that kind of productivity growth. One is skills, the other one is innovation, the third one is infrastructure, and so getting the infrastructure right so that our businesses then have the platform that they need in order to deliver their own business potential. So, absolutely, we will be focused on that, and you're right to keep us focused on that, and we look forward to further opportunities to explore how exactly we do that. In relation to the situation in terms of some of the key strategic corridors that she mentioned, one of them has been mentioned several times today, the Menai crossing, and we as a Government are absolutely clear on the importance of that and the resilience of that crossing. We understand absolutely—directly, I think I can say—the urgency of coming up with solutions that are both short-, medium-term and long-term durable ones. Indeed, just, if I may, Llywydd, to correct the statement that was made earlier about budget agreements, Plaid Cymru actually did agree a budget agreement with the then Labour administration in 2017 for £3 million precisely to support the design and development of a third Menai crossing. To quote Max Boyce, I know because I was there, and that has given us the platform so that we can now, in an accelerated and focused way, move forward. That work has already started in scoping, and, indeed, we've also had similar conversations in the context of Brynglas as well, and we want to look holistically at the entire network. I can say that the Deputy Minister and I have also had our first expansive discussion about potholes as well. Maintenance is also part of the picture, isn't it, in terms of maintaining our infrastructure. I look forward to continuing this engagement in the manner that she set out, in a constructive way, so we can actually collectively achieve progress on behalf of the people of Wales.

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I'm really grateful to the Member for putting this right at the core of our discussion this afternoon, because if we think about the engine of the economy, the absolutely central engine is the potential of our young people, which far too often, now and in our past, has been wasted potential. Young people have been locked out of opportunity, and our productivity mission is about building the bridge back, so that those young people can achieve their true potential, and that includes young people who, through necessity, have left Wales, and that's why, as part of our diaspora strategy, we will be trying to create opportunities for those who want to return to Wales to work and to set up businesses. And in relation to skills, as I said earlier, that has to be right at the centre of our strategy. So, in the first instance, understanding in as clear a way as possible the needs of business, what are the challenges and opportunities through a skills audit, having a skills summit then, so that we can design a skills system that delivers for Wales, but absolutely central to that is delivery for the young people of Wales and ensuring that they have the opportunity to achieve the potential that they undoubtedly have.

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The tourism sector is an absolutely key part of our economy and it has great potential to grow. We don't, for example, at the moment, achieve a sufficient proportion of international visitors to the UK. I was glad to welcome some Canadians in the inaugural flight from Toronto. There are many things that we can do with the tourism sector, and we're keen to have that approach, a close working relationship with them. The tourism levy, of course, is ultimately a decision for local authorities. The conditions and the context in Wales will be different in many places, but there's an opportunity for that levy to be used to support the tourism sector, to actually turn it into a sector that delivers for our economy, but delivers sustainable high-wage employment opportunities throughout the year for our young people, and we are absolutely ready, willing, keen, able and enthusiastic about working with the tourism and the wider hospitality sectors, because we have a fantastic product. We have great opportunities, so let's actually realise that potential together.

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I think that the Member is absolutely right to raise the question of energy costs: it's true for individual consumers and families; it's true also for businesses as well. So, I think that the question for us is: can we get smart and creative in using the potential that we have in terms of clean energy in ways that actually deliver lower costs? We believe that one of the most effective ways of doing that is to build community-owned, locally owned infrastructure. There's proven evidence that that can deliver a lower cost to households. But we'll also be looking at how we can actually use that principle and apply it to businesses as well—so, looking at things like onsite generation, behind the wire, using 'private wire' as in the jargon, which means that you then can avoid some of the network costs that drive up the price. So, we are absolutely keen to have that conversation. Our position on pylons, on new distribution lines, is absolutely clear. Just on cost, building long new lines of distribution over many, many kilometres is not the best way, possibly, to address the cost issue. There are other ways—the ones that I've described—that actually can deliver lower costs for families, for communities and for business, and we'll be focusing creatively and innovatively on those areas where we can have the greatest impact.

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I really welcome the Member's question and you're right: I think it's long been a shared understanding among those who have looked at the question of why Wales, over many decades, has underperformed compared to its potential that it's this missing middle. We have many micro and small businesses in Wales, which actually are very, very important in terms of our local economy, as we previously described. But what we do lack is those businesses at scale, and getting from small to medium and getting from medium to large, as well, with home-grown businesses, that is a critical element in any country or region that has achieved its economic potential. And so, that will be one of the key areas of focus for the new development agency. And then it's about understanding, 'Look, what are the constraints and what are the opportunities?' They'll be different on a business-to-business basis, and that's why having account managers that are actually then able to tailor that support package—. It might be finance with a particular business. It might be a business that has identified a new export market. Well, that's the kind of very agile, dynamic approach that a development agency can deliver.

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I think that's a really great question, and I really look forward, maybe, to having a further conversation with the Member, drawing upon her own evident experience and expertise. I think, how can we get it—? You're absolutely right. We need, actually, if we're going to create the kind of business-facing, agile and dynamic organisation that we need, then we need to draw on business expertise, people that have run, founded and, in some cases, turned around major successful business organisations, both within Wales and internationally. We'll have more to say about this in the next few weeks, but drawing upon that commercial expertise is going to be critical, not just in the design phase that we will be going through, but then in the operational phase as well. Of course, a public agency always has to have guardrails. There was reference to what went awry in the previous Welsh Development Agency. We understand there needs to be a framework, doesn't there, but also you need to empower and enable an agency to work in a different way than is possible for the centre of Government to do. So, there are some examples that we can draw upon. So, as well as tapping into business acumen and expertise, the other thing we need to do is look around the world, internationally, and say, 'Well, who are the best? Who are the best in class that have really done this?' And then, obviously, translate that into our own context and conditions. I look forward to engaging with her and with businesses across Wales in order to get this design as right as we can in the early stage, and then make sure that we learn as we go forward, we adapt as we learn more about what works.

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I agree. I thank the Member for all those very pertinent questions, actually. We have many of the raw ingredients of success, as I've described, and one of them, actually, is we do have great universities with highly relevant subject-matter expertise. And what we are not so good at—and this is true not just of Wales; it's true of the UK as a whole, actually—we have great ideas, we have great research, but we're not very good at commercialising that research in the way that, for instance, the United States of America, classically, is able to turn knowledge into products for new start-up businesses, some of which grow, of course, significantly to become unicorns. So, there's a bit of bridging work there, and the Government actually plays an important part in providing that bridge. I think that venture capital, certainly, again, is lacking in the UK. It's certainly lacking in Wales. The Development Bank of Wales, I think, has done a fairly good job at what I would call 'passive capital'—that's business lending, effectively. Venture capital is a form of active capital, where you don't just get money, you actually get the know-how and the knowledge that comes with the money, because those investors really want to protect their investment to the greatest extent possible. And then, I think we need to look at our start-up ecosystem. Part of building an effective start-up ecosystem comes into where an arm's-length agency is better, because failure and risk are an absolutely necessary part of building a start-up ecosystem. If you only invest in sure-fire bets, then you will never get start-ups that will scale up eventually. You've got to put some guardrails against that where you're involving public money as well. In terms of start-up ecosystems, there are places in the world that do this very well—and I'm not just talking about Silicon Valley; they're in a scale of their own. There are other places similar to Wales that do this well. We will learn from them very quickly indeed. Flanders is one, actually. That's an example of a region that reinvented itself precisely in the manner that I just described.

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Rhun ap Iorwerth.

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