About S$90m of government funding set aside for Singapore trade groups, chambers

OVER the next five years, around S$90 million of government funding is being set aside for trade associations and chambers (TACs), to support their efforts to drive industry transformation in Singapore, said International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and Spring Singapore Tuesday evening.

This is a 20 per cent increase from the S$75 million that was carved out for the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme in 2011 - designed to help TACs undertake projects specific to evolving sectoral needs.

Said Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran: "TACs are important partners in helping to identify and aggregate industry needs as well as co-develop scalable solutions for their members.

"The government will continue to support TACs' industry development efforts, and provide resources to help willing TACs strengthen their capabilities so that they can play a more proactive role in driving transformation at the industry level and fostering collaboration among members."

He was speaking at the LEAD Partners Dinner 2016, where 10 TACs were awarded funding of close to S$10 million for 11 projects. They include the Associations of Aerospace Industries (Singapore), the Restaurant Association of Singapore, and the Singapore Business Federation.