Singapore to set aside 90mln SGD supporting Trade Associations and Chambers

A grant budget of about 90 million Singapore dollars (65.8 million U.S. dollars) will be set aside over the next five years to develop industries through the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) program, said International Enterprise (IE) Singapore and SPRING Singapore in a joint release on Tuesday.

The new budget is a 20 percent increase from the 75 million Singapore dollars (54.8 million dollars) set aside for the program in 2011, according to the joint release.

The LEAD program will support Trade Associations and Chambers (TACs) to undertake projects that will drive industry transformation for evolving sectorial needs, which aims to improve productivity, innovation, capability-upgrading and internationalization.

Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S Iswaran said that 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.

Since 2005, the LEAD program has supported 35 TACs in more than 180 industry-upgrading projects, totaling 120 million Singapore dollars (87.7 million U.S. dollars) in grant and benefiting over 40,000 enterprises.