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Wales and the World on Campus

Article | March 31, 2011 - 2:59pm

By World News Editor Alun Rhys Chivers

In the latest of a series of seminars organised by the Richard Burton Centre, Swansea University welcomed Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones on March 28 to deliver a paper entitled ‘Global Wales’.

The paper was delivered at a time when Wales is embarking on a new period in its history, little over three weeks after a resounding ‘Yes’ vote in the referendum on full law-making powers.

Indeed, the First Minister told the assembled audience that the referendum was a crucial step in “developing a sense of Wales in the world”.

He spoke of several worldwide projects with which the Welsh Assembly has been involved, including climate change, European Union matters and educational interchange within Europe, as well as protecting habitats in Uganda, a country which cultivates coffee plants, by providing shelter in poor weather conditions.

The First Minister also drew attention to recent research undertaken at the University into the history of the Hafod copperworks.

Mr. Jones said, “Small in size doesn’t mean we have to be small in ambition”, emphasising in addition, the importance of being attractive in the knowledge economy.

He also commented on the state of the Welsh language, claiming that “there has never been one type of Welshness”, but rather that Wales has a “rich tapestry of Welshness”. While the number of Welsh speakers is increasing, he said, the number of communities in which Welsh is spoken is declining. He added that he sees the Internet, itself a symbol of globalisation, as the best means of keeping the language alive.

He added, “Globalisation is happening. We cannot stop it.”

Speaking exclusively to The Waterfront, the First Minister stressed the importance of transport in improving links between Wales and the wider world.

“People sometimes choose Bristol when they don’t need to. The first thing that needs to be done in Cardiff is to improve what people see when they arrive at the airport, and their experience at the airport, and I think that will help to attract more airlines out.”

The Welsh Assembly will also campaign to extend the electrification of the London-Swansea line as far as Swansea, which currently runs out at Cardiff. Mr. Jones said, “It should have come to Swansea. Swansea is the end of the main line. It gives the impression that London to Cardiff is the main line, and everywhere further west is some kind of branch line, and I think that’s wrong.”

“We take the view that the expensive bit of the electrification is to take the line under the Severn tunnel. If you pay to take the line under the Severn tunnel, it doesn’t cost that much more than to electrify the line from Cardiff to Swansea, so why not do that?”

With a view to the Assembly Election on May 5th, the First Minister was keen to stress that student votes are an important part of the democratic process. He said, “If you don’t vote, you’ve got no voice and we won’t listen to you. Secondly, we’ve shown in Wales that there’s an alternative to the high tuition fees being proposed in England. We’ve shown an example in Wales of what can be pressed on the UK Government.”

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