Welsh Government, New York, September 6:

“Wales means business” – that’s the message the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones is bringing to America on a whistle-stop 5-day tour of Atlanta, Cincinnati and Chicago, Sep 5-8.

As part of the drive to further raise the profile of Wales in three states of key importance to Wales, First Minister Jones will meet with a number of Fortune 500 companies, political leaders including the Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed, and existing investors in Wales including Valero, S&C Electric Company and Zimmer Biomet.

He will also address members of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs about the future of Wales post ‘Brexit’ in a talk entitled ‘After Brexit::Europe, the United Kingdom, and Wales.'

The five-day visit is part of the Welsh Government’s plan to increase trade and investment between Wales and the USA - an approach which will be accelerated as part of a coordinated response to Brexit.

The United States of America is one of Wales’ most important trading partners. There are over 250 US companies based in Wales – including large multinational corporations like GE, Ford, 3M, General Dynamics, Raytheon, Kimberley Clark, Honeywell and Ortho Clinical Diagnostics. Many Welsh companies like IQE, Tinopolis, Elephant Insurance and Creditsafe are also investing and doing business in the US.

The Welsh Government has trade and investment offices across the United States, with personnel based in the British Embassy in Washington D.C., and in the British Consulate-General offices in New York City, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Chicago

The visit comes on the back of a series of record-breaking years for inward investment to Wales. The acceleration of investment in Wales can be attributed to the proliferation of innovative and hi-tech companies in the country. A recent survey by Nockolds shows that Wales has the fastest growing digital economy in the UK outside London with the number of digital enterprises in Wales jumping by 9.2% in 2015.

Members of the Friends of Wales Caucus on Capitol Hill today wished the First Minister every success on his visit saying that ‘the people of Wales and the United States have benefited greatly from their mutual bonds of friendship which span from the founding of our nation to the present day. In light of the recent vote by the people of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the Caucus reaffirms the importance of the economic and cultural ties between Wales and the United States of America.’

Speaking ahead of the visit, First Minister Jones said:

“We have been incredibly successful over recent years at attracting global businesses to Wales – and creating high quality jobs. With inward investment at a 30 year high, our efforts in attracting business and investment is resulting in more and better jobs being created here in Wales.

“Announcements from Aston Martin, MotoNovo, TVR, Essentra, EE and BT have demonstrated our growing reputation as the go-to country for businesses to locate to and trade from. But we need to do more to attract more investment in the future, not less. We need to take an ever more proactive approach to going out there, promoting Wales on an international stage, and reminding the world that all the things that have made Wales great, continue to make Wales great.

“Post-Brexit, we must sell Wales to the world like never before. Wales must remind the world we mean business. That’s exactly what I’ll be doing this week in the USA.”

The Welsh Choir of Southern California is seeking a new Music Director. Founded in 1997, the choir is a mixed SATB group of varied ethnic backgrounds, dedicated to the glories of the Welsh choral tradition, with a core group of experienced amateurs.

The successful applicant will have a strong background in choral music and the ambition and ability to challenge the choir to excel. Our new music director (he/she) will be willing to explore traditional Welsh repertoire and contemporary Welsh choral music. About a third of the choir’s repertoire is sung in Welsh, and the director will need to become familiar with Welsh pronunciation (instruction is available).

The choir rehearses for two hours on Sunday afternoons in Westchester from September through June, with occasional free Sundays, on occasions to be determined. The choir aims at performing at least one public concert in the Fall and one in the Spring (generally close to St. David’s Day, March 1 st ).

Interested applicants should submit a resume and letter of interest to the choir President, Larry Dunlop at LDu59@aol.com .

Auditions for finalists will be held on Sunday afternoons in September. Pob lwc * Good luck

Here are some excerpts from the New Year message of the First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones:

“Looking back, 2015 has been another great year for Wales. For a country of just over three million people, we continue year on year to do outstanding things that draw the attention of the world.

 “For me, one of our greatest achievements of the year was Wales becoming the first country in the UK to introduce a new system for organ donation.

 “Our revolutionary, soft opt out system will save lives; it’s really as simple as that. I’m proud that after so much hard work and effort we’ve been able to achieve this in 2015.

 “Growth in our economy continues to outperform the UK as a whole, while increases in employment and decreases in unemployment rates in Wales are among the fastest in the UK. Inward investment is the highest it’s been for 30 years and we have seen major successes in our financial and creative industries sectors this year. Despite this growth, we’re acutely aware of ongoing severe pressures our energy intensive industries are facing and we continue to use all the levers at our disposal to support these important industries.

 “Of course you can’t look back at 2015 without mentioning Wales’ sporting achievements. We’ve hosted another Ashes Test, a Rugby World Cup and our national stadium has been announced as the host of the Champions League final in 2017.

 “The biggest sporting achievement of the year was the Wales football team reaching their first major finals since 1958.

 “So looking forward to 2016, the Welsh Government will continue to work tirelessly for Wales. We’ll support our valuable public services, continue to build a health system; education system and economy the people of Wales can be proud of.

 “We’ll never take out foot off the pedal, we’ll always fight Wales’ corner, striving for the best. The people of Wales deserve nothing less.”

 Happy New Year from all at the Welsh Government’s North American team

 Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Catrin Brace

On 1 ^st March 2015 – St David’s Day - .cymru and .wales domain names will be available to everyone, on a first come, first serve basis, putting Wales squarely on the digital map.

Ieuan Evans MBE, Chair of the .cymru and .wales Advisory Group and former Wales rugby captain has welcomed the release of the domains and said, “These domains are about taking our Welsh passion, pride and provenance to the online world and as a consequence we all now have an opportunity both within Wales and around the world to do exactly that.

“I’m thrilled to finally be able to use my own .cymru and .wales web addresses and know that anyone with a connection with Wales will want to do the same and join me in making the web more Welsh.”

There is a growing online Welsh population - over 95% of people under 44 years old use the internet*. .cymru and .wales are a part of the biggest shake-up in the world of domains with the introduction of thousands of new top-level domain names and with Wales becoming one of the few countries to have two domain names. We’ve developed a unique approach    especially for these domains, both .cymru and .wales will be bilingual and allow the registration of names with the diacritic marks used in the Welsh language.

The domain names have been on limited availability since September 2014 but from today, anyone who wants to show off their national pride and Welsh identity will be able to choose and buy their perfect website or email address through their domain provider. New research shows significant interest in Wales’ home online, with 65% of those questioned saying that they would want to highlight their Welsh connections through a dedicated .cymru or .wales domain name if they were launching a new personal or business website**. 

The Welsh Government, S4C and the Welsh Rugby Union are all marking St David’s Day by switching on their new .cymru and .wales websites today. Many of Wales’ leading businesses, brands and organisations are already backing the new domains including the National Assembly, the Millennium Stadium, Sport Wales, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, the Scarlets rugby team and the Arts Council for Wales.

Digwyddiad Hanesyddol i Gymru ar y Rhyngrwyd: .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb

Ar 1af Fawrth 2015 – Dydd Gŵyl Dewi - fe fydd enwau parth .cymru a .wales ar gael i bawb ar sail gyntaf i’r felin, gan osod Cymru ar lwyfan ddigidol fyd-eang.

Mae Ieuan Evans MBE, Cadeirydd Grŵp Cynghori .cymru a .wales a chyn-gapten tîm rygbi Cymru wedi croesawu rhyddhad y parthau a dywedodd, “Bwriad y parthau hyn yw datgan ein hangerdd, balchder a’n gwreiddiau Cymreig i’r byd ar-lein ac o ganlyniad rydym nawr gyda’r cyfle i wneud hynny, yng Nghymru ac ar draws y byd.

“Rwy’n hynod falch fy mod o’r diwedd yn gallu defnyddio fy nghyfeiriadau we .cymru a .wales ac rwy’n gwybod bydd unrhyw un gyda chysylltiad â Chymru eisiau gwneud yr un peth ac ymuno a fi wrth i ni Gymreigio’r we.”

Mae yna boblogaeth Gymreig gynyddol ar-lein – mae dros 95% o bobl o dan 44 mlwydd oed yn defnyddio’r rhyngrwyd*. Mae .cymru a .wales yn rhan o’r newid mwyaf i fyd parthau gyda chyflwyniad miloedd o enwau parth lefel uchaf newydd a Chymru yw un o’r ychydig wledydd sydd gyda dau enw parth. Rydym wedi datblygu dull unigryw yn arbennig ar gyfer y parthau hyn; fe fydd .cymru a .wales yn ddwyieithog ac yn caniatáu cofrestriad enwau gydag acenion y Gymraeg.

Mae’r enwau parth wedi bod ar gael yn gyfyngedig ers Medi 2014 ond o heddiw ymlaen, fe fydd unrhyw un sydd eisiau dangos eu balchder cenedlaethol a’u hunaniaeth Gymreig yn gallu dewis y cyfeiriad we neu e-bost delfrydol trwy eu darparwr parthau. Mae ymchwil newydd yn dangos diddordeb sylweddol yng nghartref Cymru ar-lein, gyda 65% o’r rheiny a holwyd yn nodi eu bod eisiau amlygu eu cysylltiadau Cymreig gydag enw parth .cymru neu .wales os fydden nhw’n lansio gwefan personol neu fusnes newydd.**.

Mae Llywodraeth Cymru, S4C ac Undeb Rygbi Cymru i gyd yn dathlu Dydd Gŵyl dewi wrth lansio eu gwefannau .cymru a .wales newydd heddiw. Mae llawer o fusnesau, brandiau a sefydliadau blaenllaw Cymru eisoes yn cefnogi’r parthau newydd gan gynnwys Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru, Stadiwm y Mileniwm, Chwaraeon Cymru, Ffederasiwn Busnesau Bychain Cymru, tîm rygbi’r Scarlets a Chyngor Celfyddydau Cymru.