Fresh concerns over cancelled trip toVietnam
FURTHER concerns have been expressed about a decision to cancel a trip to Vietnam by Education Secretary Kirsty Williams, which meant she could participate in a crunch vote at the National Assembly.
It emerged last week that more than £5,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on the trip which didn’t take place.
In November, Ms Williams was due to travel to the country’s capital Hanoi with three officials to boost student recruitment and research collaboration.
But the trip was called off at a time when opposition parties were pushing for an AM-led inquiry into whether First Minister Carwyn Jones misled the National Assembly over bullying allegations.
Cancellation of the trip meant Ms Williams was present to vote against the proposal.
A source in Vietnam has suggested that future cooperation that could lead to a boost to the Welsh economy has been put at risk.
A number of Welsh education bodies were represented on the trip, believing the delegation they formed part of would be led by the Cabinet Secretary.
The source said that, as a result of Ms Williams cancelling her trip, the Vietnamese Ministry for Education cancelled its meetings with the whole of the Welsh delegation.
In view of Ms Williams’ absence from the delegation, said the source, there could be no government-to-government talks: “It was a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
“It didn’t even get to the contract stage as in Vietnam it is important that the person of the right position is present or there is no discussion.
“The visit went ahead without Kirsty as she cancelled so late in the day.
“To my knowledge no deals have been agreed and the schedule was weak and patched together due to the last minute pull out,” the source said.
A spokesman for the Welsh Conservatives said: “If these allegations are true, then the Welsh Labour Government’s cancellation of the Vietnam expedition will have cost the taxpayer inestimably more than the £5,000 their spin team originally claimed.
“Here was a once-in-a-generation opportunity to forge a transpacific alliance with potentially massive benefits for Wales in terms of student exchange, research collaborations, business link-ups.
“But instead this has now very likely been thrown into jeopardy, and we can only guess at the damage this has done to Wales’ reputation abroad.”
A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “We refute these anonymous comments; at no point were there plans for government ‘contracts’ and it is completely wrong to suggest otherwise.
“In fact this completely misrepresents the purpose of the mission.
“Only last week the Education Secretary hosted a ‘next steps’ meeting with the delegation where they discussed key actions from the mission to further strengthen Wales’ relations with Vietnam.
“A number of concrete opportunities were identified with considerable potential and all who attended the visit said that it was a full and successful week,” the spokesman said.
Lisa Newbury, the assistant director of Universities Wales, said: “The trip was a success from our point of view. Most of the universities in Vietnam are state run, but there is a programme to make some autonomous. We are offering them our expertise to help them achieve that.” and