ROUND 4 CONSULTATION
ECAI was invited by Austrade to provide feedback on the development of the new Round 4 Rules.
These new rules have since been published in September 2024 and some key changes have been enacted.
A lot of the recommendations from this consultation with ECAI have unfortunately been disregarded – which is understood to be driven mostly by the funding crisis underpinning the program.
The EMDG has suffered a multi year funding reduction which will see less than 2000 of the anticipated 14000 applicants receiving funding under this next round. This has seen the program slashed form $240M down to $110M in this next round.
ECAI will continue to work with Austrade and other Peak Bodies to represent the interests of both the EMDG Consulting cohort but more importantly the Small Business Community who have been successfully utilising this program to expand international market and export endeavours since the program’s inception 49 years ago.
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(For further comments by ECAI on EMDG review report available ECAI Secretariat)