Welsh Government Economy Minister Ken Skates is pledging to answer critics who say there鈥檚 a North-South divide in investment and funding to support businesses.
Mr Skates, who is also the AM for Clwyd South, will tell business leaders in Wrexham that he will guarantee that North Wales gets its fair share of his budget.
He will make the promise at the next meeting of Wrexham Business Professionals at the Ramada Plaza Hotel on Thursday, July 4.
The other keynote speakers will be Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns MP and Ian Bancroft, the chief executive of Wrexham County Borough Council.
According to Mr Skates, setting up the headquarters of the Development Bank of Wales in Wrexham was a statement of intent.
It was recently revealed the bank had invested a record 拢80 million in Welsh companies over the past year, with 拢17 million of that coming to North Wales.
Mr Skates said: 鈥淔or many years people in North Wales have questioned whether they have had a fair share of investment and funding.
鈥淭he decision to headquarter the Development Bank of Wales in Wrexham was a deliberate one to make sure that we get fair funding and fair investment spread across the whole of Wales and also to address both the perception and, if there is one, address the reality as well.
鈥淲hat we have found with the first full year of performance since the bank鈥檚 headquarters was opened is that investment in North Wales is more than 21 per cent of overall Welsh investment which is a bit higher than the amount would have been per head of population.
鈥淗owever, it is on an upward trajectory as well so it鈥檚 clear that putting the headquarters in Wrexham has had huge benefits for North Wales as a whole in making sure that investment and support for businesses is spread fairly and equally across the whole of Wales.
鈥淭his is part of the regionalisation of economic development in Wales. We鈥檝e already set up in the past 12 months regional units in North聽Wales,聽Mid聽and聽South聽West聽Wales,聽and聽South聽East聽Wales聽which are designed to drive economic development in a fair way across the nation.
鈥淚n July I will be publishing the first ever regional budgets for economic development which are designed to complement investments in growth deals, in city deals and to make sure that businesses across the region of North Wales are able to access the support they need.
鈥淣orth Wales will definitely get its fair share. The fair share will be guaranteed.
鈥淥ur next concern deals with what is called the missing middle, making sure we support as many smaller sized businesses聽to grow to become middle sized and then large companies if possible, making sure their roots remain in Wales and those decisions are taken locally.
鈥淲e have the Accelerated Growth Programme that is operated by Business Wales, working in tandem with the Development Bank of Wales which is there to ensure that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) grow in a safe and sustainable way.
鈥淲e have a huge number of jobs that are dependant on a small number of businesses and those businesses are the anchors of our economy which drive supply chain opportunities for thousands upon thousands of smaller businesses.
鈥淲e have a record number of micro businesses and SMEs and what we need to do is create pathways so that they can grow to become middle sized without having to sell out to international interests.鈥
