Alex Salmond yesterday forged a new link with a like-minded Catalan who was visiting Holyrood to learn more about plans for holding an independence referendum.
Josep-Lluis Carod-Rovira, vice-president of the government of Catalonia, is a senior member of a three-party, left of centre coalition in the Barcelona parliament. He was in Scotland to gain an insight on how to develop a stronger national identity.
The vice-president, effectively deputy first minister in the semi-autonomous region of Spain, said there are lessons the SNP Government is keen to learn from Catalonia about its business culture and extensive network of foreign embassies, which could act as a model for Scotland.
A working group is also being set up to build stronger links, including foreign minister Linda Fabiani (Scotland) and her opposite number in the Catalan administration.
A Welsh Foreign Minister can be doing the same, learning from Catalonia about its business culture and extensive network of foreign embassies, which could act as a model for Wales.