Alan Peat DESPITE DEMAND exceeding supply last year, the trade investment division of the Department of Trade & Industry (DoT&I) expects its export marketing investment assistance (EMIA) budget for the 2003-04 financial year to be able to handle the export industry’s needs. The reason for the growth in demands from the fund, according to Christiaan Saaiman, director for EMIA, was a lot of successful initiatives by government to increase SA’s export base and a sudden surge of new exporters entering the market. “We benchmark our budget against the performance of the fund in the previous year,” Saaiman told FTW. “The budget for the forthcoming financial year is more than last year.” The fund again has enough money to cover its programmed commitment until end-March and the advent of the new budget, he added. There has just been an EMIA workshop in Johannesburg with all the parties interested in the fund. “This was designed for us to gather views from people, and to measure the objectives so we can meet people’s needs from the fund. “It was a commercial tool.” But David Graham, head of International Trade Projects, was not so content. “Last year,” he said, “they ran out of funding.” That was for the three months up to end-December. “This meant that there was no assistance for exhibitions and companies couldn’t plan in advance through that period.” However, he added, he had attended the stakeholders’ meeting. “And they assured us the fund has got the money for this year,” Graham told FTW.
