Promoting the rapid development of the software industry will be a priority for the port city Dalian in the coming years, said its mayor.

"We will provide a better environment and qualified professionals to IT vendors and external service providers (ESPs)," Mayor Xia Deren said on Monday at a seminar on Software & Information Services Outsourcing, co-sponsored by the Dalian Software Park and US-based Gartner, a global IT research and consulting company.

Since the establishment of the Dalian Software Park, Dalian has been targeting the world market, trying to attract the world's top 500 enterprises to establish their data and service centers in the city.

So far more than 20 of them, including GE, Accenture and Nokia, have offices in the park, with business covering Japan, Republic of Korea and Russia.

Xia said the municipal government says developing the IT industry is one way to upgrade its traditional industries in the country's drive to revitalize the economy in Northeast China.

According to the country's blueprint, Dalian will be built into an international navigation center, featuring petrochemicals, shipbuilding, equipment manufacturing and an IT industry.

Last year the city planned a 15-square-kilometer project to enlarge the software park along its South Lushun Road, a scenic area in the city.

"We present the best environment for the software industry, especially for offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) in our city," Xia said.

A training program to provide a lower-cost, yet qualified, workforce for ESPs is being offered to thousands of IT professionals in several institutes throughout the city.

(China Daily April 13, 2004)