APPENDIX 22
Memorandum submitted by the Federation
of Small Businesses
We have focused on the role played by the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry
in promoting business opportunities in Wales and how these have
integrated with the new organisations created by the National
Assembly.
The majority of promotion abroad of business
links, export opportunities and inward investment is handled by
the WDA, Wales Trade International and the Wales Tourist Board,
all of which report to the National Assembly.
The area we then researched was how the promotion
of Wales was integrated into the promotion of the UK. For example,
Wales Trade International is on the board of British Trade International
and will be exhibiting at trade fairs as part of British Trade
International stands.
It is clear that much work has been done by
the FCO and DTI to integrate devolved thinking, including having
secondees from the National Assembly staff to ensure that the
Departments do promote Wales in its work promoting the UK.
We feel that these UK Departments are working
for Wales and will, as the relationship between the National Assembly
and the Government Departments are established, work effectively
for Wales.
In light of the above, we feel that this is
possibly a subject that would warrant investigation at a later
date due to the need for working practices to be implemented between
the organisations mentioned.
Russell Lawson
Head of Press and Parliamentary Affairs in Wales
23 October 2000
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