The brand will market Wales worldwide Enlarge Image

Symbolised by a dragon facing west, it was unveiled on the first working day of an enlarged Welsh Assembly Government.

On 1 April, three quangos and their 1,500 staff were absorbed into the assembly government in the so-called "bonfire of the quangos".

Rhodri Morgan said the brand "means we will be more effective than ever".

The dragon brand - believed to have cost �119,000 to develop - will now be rolled out through all work produced by the assembly government promoting Wales.

On Saturday, the Welsh Development Agency, the Wales Tourist Board and the 16-plus education body Elwa were scrapped.

'Nation of thinkers'

"The timing of the launch of the unified brand is spot on with the Welsh Development Agency and Wales Tourist Board merging with the Welsh Assembly Government to form the new Department of Enterprise, Innovation and Networks," Mr Morgan said.

"We have a wealth of strengths to highlight in Wales.

"Using one single brand for all the work we do in promoting Wales across the world means we will be more effective than ever in capitalising on those strengths and telling the world about them."

But the first minister said the brand was not just a logo.

"It is about a way of thinking and operating, and knowing the strengths we would like to present and promote about ourselves to others," he added.

He said the brand "places Wales as a nation of thinkers priding itself on being different and innovative".

The three quangos are the first in the 'bonfire'

"The three key values for the brand are the spirit of the people - honest and unpretentious - the human spirit of the place called Wales - small, open and accessible, and thirdly, a national attitude which is challenging and prides itself on being a small clever country with big ideas."

Mr Morgan also defended the merging of 90% of Wales' quangos into the assembly structure, saying he had "never felt happier" about any decision in his seven years in government.

"What you've got now is a one-stop shop. You don't have to go in through separate doors to get your property developing grant from the WDA and your regional selective assistance grant from the economic development and transport department."

Opposition parties, however, are not quite so enthusiastic.

'Sticky fingers'

Conservative economic development spokesman Alun Cairns, said:" The civil servants are accountable, of course, to the minister. Their loyalty is with the minister, their loyalty isn't with the people of Wales."

Mike German, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the assembly, said they were worried the minister will now take all the decisions.

"What we've had so far is the Wales Development Agency and the Wales Tourist Board having a field of action.

"If everything has to go up to the minister and the minister has his sticky fingers on everything that happens, clearly that will slow things down."

Plaid's economic development spokesman Alun Ffred Jones said: "Plaid and the rest of the people of Wales can only hope that the Labour assembly government is more creative and original in forming its economic policies, than the design of this logo."