Xi'an takes initiative to lead China's BPO development

Xi'an, capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi province vows to become the heart of China's burgeoning BPO development, said mayor Chen Baogen in a press conference amid the two-day "3rd China International BPO Conference" on Oct 26, 2006.

"The modern BPO industry is vital to Xi'an's economic development. As an inland city, Xi'an does not enjoy the geographic advantages when competing with southeast coastal cities in terms of the industries in traditional sense, "acknowledged Chen. "But we are in the same footage in terms of BPO development. The service outsourcing based on software and Internet technology will bring about the change in the current international trade pattern."

The mayor noted that the rising of software outsourcing will provide the developing countries with opportunities to boost economic growth, attract foreign investment and create employment opportunities.

In the past years, Xi'an has integrated itself into the global information industry with the solid foundation of software service outsourcing, which has attracted much of the world renown enterprises to settle in.

Being a major base for scientific research and education, Xi'an possesses favorable conditions for developing software service outsourcing.

The city ranks the third for its higher learning institutes and ranks the first for its private universities with over 800,000 college graduates annually, which serves as a talent pool for BPO development.

More importantly, both provincial and municipal government as well as committee said that the priority would be given to the city's infrastructure construction. With the advancement of urban infrastructure, ecosystem as well as social and economic development, Xi'an has been recognized as one of the top software industry bases in China.

Furthermore, according to the local government's mid-term plan, there will be 200,000 people engaging in BPO by 2010 and the trade is expected to generate 30 billion yuan profits.

At the press conference, Chen, fully confident for the BPO development in the city, painted a rosy picture. It seems an irreversible trend to make the ancient city "China's BPO capital" and service outsourcing industry a new drive for the social and economic growth.

By People's Daily Online