culture.gov.au

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Export and trade programs

Austrade is the Australian Government's export and international business facilitation agency. It helps Australians succeed in export and international business by providing advice about access to overseas markets, market intelligence about international opportunities, and financial support through export market development grants. Austrade also provides advice and guidance on overseas investment and joint venture opportunities.

Austrade's international presence extends to over 140 locations in more than 60 countries.

Working with Austrade can reduce the time, cost and risk involved in selecting, entering and developing international markets.

Austrade administers a range of programs to support its export and business facilitation role. An overview of these is presented below.

• TradeStart is a national network of export assistance offices developed through partnerships between Austrade and a range of local private and public sector organizations throughout Australia . Currently, there are more than 50 TradeStart offices operating across Australia . In the 2006-07 Budget, the previous Australian Government committed $23.3 million over four years to continue the TradeStart program, which assisted over 1,200 new exporters achieve export sales in excess of $550 million since 2002.

• Austrade and TradeStart offer a package of free services through the New Exporter Development Program (NEDP), which is designed to assist small and medium sized Australian companies develop their business overseas and make their first export sale. Such support encompasses advice and information about commencing exporting, export coaching and on-the-ground assistance in overseas markets.

• The Export Market Development Grants (EMDG) scheme was the previous Australian Government's principal financial assistance program for small and emerging exporters. Under the scheme, eligible applicants could qualify for up to 50 per cent reimbursement of export marketing expenses above a threshold of $15,000 to a maximum of seven years. Of the 2004-05 EMDG grant year recipients paid in financial year 2005-06, 233 were in the arts, film or music industries. These businesses received a total of $8.9 million in EMDG grants, which represented almost 7% of total grant payments, and generated exports worth $138.0 million.

For further information, please visit the Austrade website.

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