I am always encouraged and enthused when Wales is at the forefront of development within any sector, but we have to concede that the progress that we are making within the digital arena is as important as it is impressive.

Recent figures illustrate that there are around 3,000 businesses across Wales’ digital sector, contributing to an overall £860bn global digital economy, which is why it will be of further significance for our development within this sector that Wales is hosting the Digital 2015 conference at the Celtic Manor for more than 2,000 delegates this week.

Our digital sector employs more than 24,000 people and is certainly thriving – there has been an 87 per cent growth in the number of Welsh digital start-ups between 2010 and 2013, while average growth across the UK within this sector was 53 per cent.

Wales’ cyber security arena is also thriving and contributes towards these encouraging figures, which speak for themselves really, and the ability for Welsh businesses to embrace the ever impressive developments in this area just further underline that Wales as a nation is not to be underestimated. We are ready to embrace the opportunities that undoubtedly present themselves in this dynamic and fast moving sector.

As an aside, I can think of no better place than the Celtic Manor to host this event and it is yet another further example of the impressive resort offering the best that Wales has to offer in terms of conference facilities for international businesses, including speakers from Google, Microsoft, Airbus and Cisco I am sure that the conference will go well and will provide further evidence that Wales is well placed to host further global events.