WALES has “a lot of catching up to do” in terms of making the most of links with people with Welsh origins living abroad, a Gwent AM has said.

South Wales East’s Steffan Lewis was speaking in the Senedd this week during a discussion of Wales' links with its diaspora - people with Welsh heritage but living elsewhere.

Addressing first minister Carwyn Jones, the Plaid Cymru AM said: "I think, of all the Celtic countries, we've got a lot of catching up to do when it comes to maximising the opportunities of engaging with our diaspora."

Mr Lewis also suggested a scheme could be launched through which people living abroad could be offered "an official Welsh Government certification of Welsh heritage".

"It will raise funds for the Welsh Government that could be put towards great efforts and projects like Wales for Africa, or give greater opportunities for young people from Wales to go and study and travel overseas," he said

Calling Mr Lewis "a font of original ideas", the first minister replied: "It's an idea, I think, that's worthy of further examination".

But he said: "What I wouldn't want to do, of course, is to suggest to people that if they want to claim Welsh heritage, they've got to pay for it.

"But what is important is that we work with the diaspora that we have."

He added: "What we have done since 2011 is to look at opening new offices in parts of the world where we know that the Welsh heritage is strong in order to utilise the diaspora that exists there, and work with them to promote Wales in their home countries and, of course, make sure that we're able to open up opportunities for Welsh businesses as they look to trade with the US and Canada."

And Conservative AM Suzy Davies called for more to be done to bring "high achievers" back to Wales.

Responding, the first minister said the Welsh Government had commissioned a study into the matter.

There are an estimated three million Welsh people living outside Wales, including 1.75 million in the USA. There are also significant Welsh populations in England, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Scotland and New Zealand.