Summit has delivered a major boost to economy - First Minister

LUNED Morgan said one of her first decisions as First Minister to stage the Wales Investment Summit had focused minds to get £16bn of investment projects away ahead of the event.

- SION BARRY and ELEANOR STOREY

The summit, held at ICC Wales in Newport yesterday, is the most significant hosted by Wales since the 2014 Nato summit with more than 300 senior business leaders attending from 31 countries, around 60% of whom are not currently invested in Wales.

The Welsh Government said the projects would create 10,000 jobs across Wales.

The biggest single investment is a network of new Al data centres in south Wales from US venture Vantage Data Centers. The £10bn investment will create 5,000 jobs, although the majority will be construction-related.

Other announcements include:

A £600m investment from Vodafone, which will bring its standalone 5G coverage in Wales to 99% and reach two million more people;

GE is investing £18m to modernise its aerospace engine testing facility at Nantgarw, which employs around 1,350 highly skilled engineers and technical specialists;

Associated British Ports is investing £42m in five Welsh ports, including a new deep-water berth at Middle Quay, Newport;

RWE is investing £200m in its largest battery-energy-storage facility in Pembroke, helping to stabilise the UK energy market by storing surplus energy and feeding it into the National Grid;

Eni is committing £700m to a carbon-capture and storage project at the former Point of Ayr colliery site in Flintshire, creating more than 1,000 jobs;

Bad Wolf, the Cardiff-based TV and film production company, is investing £2m in two new high-end productions expected to generate £30m in direct, indirect, and induced impact for the Welsh economy, creating 300 freelance roles; and

Vantage, which already has a data-centre campus in Cardiff, will also create new data centres at the former Ford engine plant in Bridgend and at the Welsh Government-owned Bro Tathan business park in the Vale of Glamorgan.

There will also be further projects, seeded through interactions between delegates, that could take years to come to fruition.