Wales' economic position will only improve when the right conditions are created for private sector companies to generate wealth and employment, Pembrokeshire's business community has been told.

According to Professor Brian Morgan, director of the Creative Leadership and Enterprise Centre at the Cardiff School of Management, Wales needs a more entrepreneurial economy, but for this to happen, Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) decision-making needs to improve.

Professor Morgan, addressing the Pembrokeshire Business Network in Narberth, described entrepreneurs as risk takers, agents of change and practitioners of innovation.

In Pembrokeshire, he cited William McNamara, chief executive of the Bluestone holiday village, as an example of an entrepreneur.

"William McNamara is an entrepreneur who has risked capital and now we have an asset to be proud of,' he said.

However, Professor Morgan criticised the Welsh Assembly Government for creating delays that held up the project for five years.

"How can we expect entrepreneurs to invest in Wales when it takes so long to get a project off the ground,' he said.

He suggested there were not enough entrepreneurs in Wales and urged WAG to focus on raising competitiveness.

Professor Morgan was surprised by the lack of economic performance in Wales, given the huge growth in public sector spending since devolution - from £7 billion in 1999 to £15 billion today.

"The Welsh Assembly Government needs to focus on developing consistent long-term policies to achieve long-term economic goals,' said Professor Morgan.

He believed Wales' economic salvation could lie in the development of a 'massive' tidal power source on the Severn Estuary and other renewable technologies such as wind power.

"If we can focus business support services on this new opportunity, then investments like these will provide the basis for a sustainable economy in Wales for the rest of the century and one in which Welsh entrepreneurs and small businesses will lead the way,' he said.