According to a statement by Mr Nick Begakis AM, Chair ACCI Trade & International Affairs Committee, the Trade Committee voiced its strong disappointment at the recent funding cuts and lack of adequate funding allocation to both the Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) Scheme and the TradeStart program.

"With one in four jobs in Australia related to export, business has been short-changed since 1 July when government payments were unilaterally reduced after $50 million could not be found in the May budget to support the EMDG Scheme."

The EMDG Scheme allows exporters to claim back from the government a percentage of funds expended on export promotion activities in overseas markets. Exporters expecting $50,000 in an initial payback amount from the Government for 2009-10 expenses, were alarmed to see that this amount had been reduced to $27,500 from 1 July.

In a recent survey conducted by ACCI, exporters said the EMDG Scheme was even more valuable than the current bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) agenda. It is particularly helpful to entrepreneurial Australian companies entering into the often opaque and challenging markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

Funding of both the EMDG scheme and the TradeStart program has reduced despite continuing evidence that both are key practical programs supporting Australian business' trade promotion activities and provide effective return to taxpayers.