The document said that 20 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Suzhou and Hangzhou, have been designated for pilot service outsourcing programs. Beginning on January 1, these companies are eligible for tax breaks, financial support, subsidies and intellectual property rights protection.

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education will work out policies on service outsourcing talents, training 1.2 million people in coming five years and helping them to find proper jobs.

The government will offer service outsourcing companies a subsidy of up to 4,500 yuan (US$662) a year for every college graduate employed on a contract of at least one year.

Wuxi, which is also selected as a pilot city, will allocate an extra of 8,500 yuan per person each year as training subsidy for outsourcing companies, the bureau said.

"Altogether we can get a 13,000 yuan training subsidy for each graduate we recruit, which can almost cover the training cost," Zhang Zhongyang said.

Statistics show, world cross-border service and software outsourcing business volume hit US$400 billion in 2007. The figure is expected to hit US$1.6 trillion by 2010.

Zhang said that the government has made great efforts to support the industry.

"We have to seize the chance," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2009)