Guangzhou will be a national export-oriented software innovation base starting tomorrow, an official said.

"Guangzhou has finally won the title from a dozen applicants," said Xiao Zhenyu, head of the Guangzhou Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau.

"The entitlement speaks for the State's positive attitude toward the headway Guangzhou has made in the development of its software industry as well as its rapid growth of software exports in the past few years," he said.

"It also reflects the government's confidence in the city's future software development."

Xiao said Guangzhou will make good use of its position as a national export-oriented software innovation base.

The city's aim is to realize an annual software industrial output of 110 billion (US$13.9 billion) by 2010, an increase of 35 percent year-on-year, and annual software exports of US$1.20 billion, up 30 percent year-on-year.

Official statistics indicate the city's over 1,100 software enterprises realized total revenue of 24.2 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) in 2005, with exports reaching US$336 million.

Xiao said the municipal government of Guangzhou has budgeted 150 million yuan (US$19 million) each year from this year until 2010 to support software industrial parks, train software professionals, and subsidize software exports and software outsourcing businesses.

The city spent a total of 233 million yuan (US$29.5 million) to support the development of the software industry between 2001 and 2005.

Xiao said the city aims to draw 10 globally renowned multinational software companies by 2010 to develop software outsourcing businesses.

In addition to domestic software companies, several multinational software companies, including Germany-based RIB Group, Japan-based Transcosmos and India-based Tech-Mahindra have set up in Guangzhou for software outsourcing.

Xiao said Guangzhou will create a mechanism for closer co-operative ties in software development with Hong Kong by encouraging software enterprises to join hands to secure software outsourcing businesses.

Chen Xiaoguang, an associate professor of the software school, South China University of Technologies, said Guangzhou has laid a solid foundation for sustained development of the software industry in terms of economic development, human resources, and software development capabilities.

(China Daily November 30, 2006)