The Chinese government is to develop 10 outsourcing base cities
by 2010 in an effort to build up the country's outsourcing
services, said a senior official with Ministry of Commerce
(MOC).
Assistant Minister of Commerce Fu Ziying said the scheme would
encourage 100 multinationals to shift offshore outsourcing services
to China and foster 1,000 large and medium-sized service
outsourcing enterprises.
The first base cities would be Shanghai, Dalian, Xi'an, Shenzhen
and Chengdu.
The government is aiming for a fourfold increase in its service
outsourcing export volume during the 11th Five-Year Plan period
(2006-2010).
"The MOC is to channel social resources into innovation-oriented
enterprises, and support policies will focus on enterprises rather
than export products," said Fu.
He estimated this year's foreign trade volume would exceed
US$1.7 trillion.
The global service outsourcing market stands at between 300
billion and 500 billion dollars. The market is expected to reach
one trillion dollars in 2008.
In 2005, China's exports of service outsourcing were worth 900
million dollars.
A report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development said China was already a favorite choice for
multinationals' research and development and could build on that to
provide a range of outsourced services.
(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2006)