Australian Government - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Advancing the interests of Australia and Australians internationally

Southeast Asia Mutual Recognition of Professional Services Grant Program

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Introduction

Southeast Asia Mutual Recognition of Professional Services Grant Program

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Applications under this Grant Opportunity open on 27 March 2025 and close at 11.30PM AEDT, 8 May 2025 

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Australia has strong economic ties with Southeast Asia, underpinned by a network of bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand and regional FTAs with Southeast Asian countries through the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP).

Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) are crucial to further strengthening these ties by facilitating the two-way movement of skilled professionals.

The Australian Government allocated funding for the Southeast Asia Mutual Recognition of Professional Services (SEAMRPS) Grant Program in the 2024-25 Budget, to support the negotiation of MRAs in priority professional services sectors with Southeast Asia. The SEAMRPS Grant Program supports recommendation 68 of the Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040 report which highlights the importance of professional services in driving economic growth and innovation in the region.

Objective and intended Outcome

Objective

  • the key objective of the program is to liberalise and facilitate the professional services trade between Australia and Southeast Asia and contribute to closer economic integration.   

Intended outcome

  • the intended outcome of the program is to enable Australian professional service accreditation, licensing and registration bodies to negotiate mutual recognition of professional qualifications, licensing and registration with their Southeast Asian counterparts.

Funding and grants

A total of $250,000 is available over two years (FY 2024/25 and FY 2025/26) for the SEAMRPS Grant Program, concluding 30 June 2026:

  • grants will be between $30,000 - $50,000, depending on the scope of the proposed grant activity and its complexity
  • organisations are expected and strongly encouraged to co-fund and/or provide an in-kind co‑contribution to the grant activities. In limited circumstances we may accept arrangements that do not include a co-contribution
  • the grant amount provided will generally make up no less than 50 per cent and no more than 75 per cent of the overall cost of the activities, with the remaining cost met by the applicant’s financial or in-kind co-contribution
  • you cannot use funding from other Commonwealth, state, territory or local government sources to fund your share of eligible expenditure.

During 2024/25 and 2025/26, there will be one or possibly two grant rounds, noting a second round would only be opened if demand for funding in the first instance does not exhaust the grant funding.

If you are successful, you must complete your activity by no later than 30 June 2026.

You must meet the applicant eligibility criteria and be delivering an eligible activity to participate in this grant opportunity. Please see Page 2 - Eligibility.

If you have any questions about this grant opportunity, please email us at: professionalservicesmru@dfat.gov.au

Eligibility to apply for a grant

We will only be accepting applications from Australian professional service accreditation, licensing and registration bodies.

Paragraph 11.6 of the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles state that “in some circumstances, it may be appropriate to use a non-competitive and/or a non-application based selection process. For example, it may be important to strike a balance between the desire to maximise access to a grant and the need for a timely and cost-effective decision-making process. It may also be appropriate to target particular individuals, organisations, regions, or industry sectors, depending on the government policy outcomes to be achieved.”

Australian professional service accreditation, licensing and registration bodies are a discrete sub‑set of such organisations in Australia.

The targeting of these specific bodies stems from their critical role in negotiating MRAs. As the entities authorised to establish and enforce the standards for professional practice i.e. defining the qualifications, knowledge and skills required for professional registration, these bodies are uniquely qualified to negotiate MRAs.

Given their unique role in negotiating MRAs, the SEAMRPS Grant Program will only be accepting applications from these eligible Australian bodies. This targeted approach ensures that the program effectively supports the development of MRAs with Southeast Asia.

Assessment of grant applications

The Department’s selection panel will assess each application on its merits and compare it to other eligible applications before recommending which grant applications should be awarded a grant. The assessment committee will be made up of officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and potentially external experts.

Only eligible applications will move to the next stage.

We will consider your application on its merits, based on:

  • how well it meets the criteria
  • how it compares to other applications
  • whether it provides value with relevant money[1]

When assessing the extent to which the application represents value with relevant money, we will have regard to:

  • the overall objective/s to be achieved in providing the grant
  • the relative value of the grant sought
  • extent to which the proposed activities in the application match identified priorities
  • the extent to which the evidence in the application demonstrates that it will contribute to meeting the outcomes/objectives
  • the extent to which the grant activities could contribute to the further strengthening of ties by facilitating the two-way movement of skilled professionals
  • the application’s potential risks to the Commonwealth, including financial and operational.

[1] See glossary in the Grant Guidelines for an explanation of ‘value with money’.

Who will approve grants?

The Program Delegate, Assistant Secretary, FTA Services, Mobility and Coordination Branch, Free Trade Agreements and Stakeholder Engagement Division decides which grants to approve, taking into account the recommendations of the selection committee and the availability of grant funds for the purposes of the grant program.

The Delegate’s decision is final in all matters, including:

  • the approval of the grant
  • the grant funding amount to be awarded
  • the terms and conditions of the grant

There is no appeal mechanism for decisions to approve or not approve a grant.