These are exciting times to be responsible for economic development and transport in Wales.

Since devolution Wales has seen the biggest fall in unemployment in the UK - 42% less unemployment now than six years ago and twice the fall in the rest of the UK.

Around 122,000 jobs have been created in Wales since 1999.

And, for the past two years, earnings in Wales have risen faster than the UK as a whole. You wouldn't get those increases if all the new jobs were 'McRubbish' jobs, as some have claimed.

Increasingly they are well paid, high skill employment such as the 750 jobs created in Bridgend by Logica CMG with financial support from the Assembly Government.

We are heading for two years of consecutive month on month business growth for Welsh companies.

And official figures released last week showed that during 2004 Welsh exports grew by a staggering 14% and for the first time in history burst through the £8billion barrier.

In short Wales is raising its game and not just on the rugby field! But we know that to keep up momentum we have to invest in our transport system.

That's why before Christmas I announced an £8 billion programme to develop a 21st century transport system for Wales including going ahead with the new M4 south of Newport.

On railways, for the first time since the Beeching cuts of 40 years ago we are reopening passenger lines in Wales, with vital new rail links for Ebbw Vale and the Vale of Glamorgan.

We are increasing capacity and improving service on our Valley lines and improving safety on our north Wales stations.

It has involved some hard decisions - not least on the new M4 - but I think they have been the right decisions for Wales.

But we have to keep raising the bar of achievement because we want the very best for Wales.

To do that we need a Welsh public service which is best in class. A Welsh public service which is nimble, and flexible and 'can do'.

Last year I spoke about some of the quango leaders who regarded their own pet projects as 'core' activities and our spreading prosperity agenda as somehow 'peripheral'.

I will let nothing stand in the way of radical progress with democratic control. Our new economic powerhouse must be fit for purpose in building a 21st century economy for Wales.

The Welsh Development Agency and the tourist board - and indeed ELWa - can't just be subsumed into an old style civil service. We have to create something new and something better.

An organisation which enables Wales to continue to prosper in the global economy.

We also need new blood, new ideas. We have to be commercially adept, democratically accountable and focussed on delivery.

It is a challenge for us all and I know many in the Welsh public service and beyond are up for that challenge.

But some are frightened by it. Some are far too cosy with 'we do things this way because we always have'. Some are too worried about their own little empires and some think they are above democratic control.

My message is clear - don't try to get in the way of this change. Don't try and prevent or slow down progress. I will not allow it.

I will not have less than the best we can achieve. Because it's too important for our economy. It's too important for our people.

Let me just give an example of why I'm so determined on this - the Heads of the Valleys. We all know the scale of the problems: Long-term economic decline, unemployment, unacceptable rates of economic inactivity, ill health and the horrendous impact all of this has had on whole communities.

But there is nothing inevitable about decline in the Heads of the Valleys. These are communities that built the wealth of modern Wales - they have done it before, they can do it again.

Some good progress has been made - particularly on unemployment - but deeply entrenched problems remain.

My message is clear. By working together we can all achieve more. After all the changes and progress, after all the decades, that old Labour maxim still holds true today - 'Unity is strength'! We can't have old style parochialism limiting the benefits of investments like dualling the Heads of the Valleys road.

The massive investment we are making presents a major opportunity to really make an impact on the lives and life chances of our people in Heads of the Valleys communities. I for one do not intend to waste that opportunity.

So, as promised, later this week (Thursday), I will be launching the framework strategy which sets out a new way of working together for the Heads of the Valleys.

The Assembly government with our public bodies, with local councils, with the voluntary and private sectors - all identifying common priorities, sharing resources and pooling funds to deliver an agreed programme. I can also announce that, to help with this process, I have committed an additional £10m on top of £12m committed in the current budget round to provide £22 million as pump priming for delivering the strategy.

While this investment is substantial in itself, it's even more substantial when you consider the potential to match it with structural funds and lever in private sector investment.

Over the life of the programme it means an investment of around £500 million.

However it pales in comparison to the main prize; the opportunity to ensure that £15 billion every year of public investment in the Heads of the Valleys is focused, co-ordinated and effective.

I believe we can achieve a very bright economic future for Wales but not if the Valleys are left behind.

And what's more if we somehow left the Heads of the Valleys behind we wouldn't deserve success.

I don't promise what I can't deliver - but I do deliver what I promise.

I promise that the Heads of the Valleys Programme will deliver for our most deprived communities. It will be the first example of delivery by our new Welsh public service.