Welsh Secretary urges Welsh diaspora to promote Wales around the world
Stephen Crabb: “The Welsh diaspora have a key role to play in promoting Wales throughout the UK and the rest of the world.”
Stephen Crabb MP with Kelvin Bryon of London Welsh RFC and Martyn Williams
Stephen Crabb today (29 January) urged Welsh people who have made their mark in business around the world to help bring in more investment to Wales.
The Welsh Secretary told an audience of business people and entrepreneurs that the Welsh diaspora was a vital partner in promoting Wales throughout the UK and the rest of the world.
In a speech to the London Welsh RFC Business Club in Oxford, Mr Crabb said that the NATO Summit, International Investment Summit and Wales’s leading role in the technology and aerospace sectors were proof that the Welsh economy had changed markedly in recent years.
Mr Crabb said:
Much of this success is home grown, but those in the Welsh diaspora who have helped shape London and have made their mark in business outside Wales, have a key role in promoting Wales throughout the UK and the rest of the world.
In sharing and celebrating our success, we can help bring in more investment to Wales to create jobs, increase growth and boost the economy.
So I would ask you to bring your business contacts to Wales, to visit our stunning Welsh scenery and historic landmarks, study at our excellent Welsh universities and do more business with our great Welsh companies.
Mr Crabb also paid tribute to Wales’s rugby stars and sporting personalities who help raise the profile of Wales as a great place to live, work and do business.
Mr Crabb, himself a keen rugby player, said that sport was an important catalyst for change and that Wales must capitalise on the global attention that the rugby World Cup 2015 will bring.
He said:
In this rugby World Cup year the eyes of the world will again be on Wales, and of course England.
The rugby World Cup is of course the third biggest sporting event after the football World Cup and the Olympics
We rightly recognise sport as being a lever for economic and social change and I am sure rugby World Cup 2015 will be no different.
Former Wales British and Irish Lions legend Martyn Williams also spoke at the event.
The London Welsh Business Club is the new business club set up in partnership between London Welsh RFC and a number of business people from across Oxford.