The service outsourcing industry is vital to boosting Jiangsu's economy and is a top priority of the provincial government, said Zhang Weiguo, vice-governor of the eastern province.

Zhang made the remarks at the Jiangsu International Service Outsourcing Conference, which opened over the weekend and features over 1,800 business people, and officials and experts from 32 countries and regions, including the UK, France, Japan and India.

"Because we are facing increased pressure in terms of population, resources and industrial structures, it is a wise choice to adopt the strategy of developing international service outsourcing industry," Zhang said.

Jiangsu Province is one of China's most economically developed areas with a large number of domestic and overseas companies in IT, software, electronic information and telecommunications.

The province has chosen the outsourcing industry as a new mode of economic growth to keep up with global trends and achieve sustainable development. Over the past few years, the outsourcing sector has witnessed rapid growth, becoming one of the pillar industries in the province.

Statistics show the province yielded a revenue of $200 million from outsourcing services in 2006.

Nanjing, Wuxi, Suzhou and other cities have gone all out to promote the sector's development.

As one of the 10 Chinese base cities of service outsourcing, Nanjing plans to build a service outsourcing center with over 200,000 employees and 150 outsourcing companies for a total business volume of 40 billion yuan by 2010.

Source: China Daily