Institute for Information Industry Executive Vice-President Gary Gong (2nd right) and Nanjing External Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau Director Wu Wei (right) show their memorandum of understanding to the media yesterday after signing the document concerning the outsourcing of information services. CNA

TAIPEI: Jiangsu's provincial capital, Nanjing, said it will buy $100 million worth of computer software from Taiwan over the next five years. The president of Taiwan's Institute for Information Industry (III) Ke Jyh-Sheng made the disclosure yesterday.

A letter of intent was signed by III Executive Vice-President Gary Gong and Nanjing External Trading and Economic Cooperation Bureau Director Wu Wei during the Conference on Cross-Straits Cooperation and Exchange in Information Service which opened yesterday in Taipei.

III will act as intermediary to coordinate the purchase orders from Nanjing before giving them to Taiwan software companies, Ke said.

The orders will cover the fields of manufacturing automation, energy conservation, medical care, financial services, telecom and electronic government projects, he said.

Established in 1979 as a non-governmental organization, III was jointly sponsored by the Taiwan government and prominent private enterprises to promote the development of the IT industry in Taiwan.

The two-day conference, jointly held by III, Information Service Industry Association of Taiwan and the Taipei Computer Association, is part of the effort to create synergy among IT players in Taiwan and the mainland.

The world is undergoing great changes brought about by IT, said Hong Jingyi, executive director of China E-commerce Association.

Some 52.9 percent of Taiwan's IT products are produced overseas. Chinese mainland factories accounted for a third of them, he said.

There are many areas in which IT industries across the Taiwan Straits can cooperate. The cooperation is going to have a far-reaching impact on the economy of both the mainland and Taiwan, Hong added.

Leading IT companies from Taiwan, including Acer, Systex, Wistron, Gigabyte, HCT and Advanced Control & System, took part.

There are two delegations from the mainland, dispatched by the China Center for Information Industry Development and the Nanjing municipal government, totaling 111 representatives.

Panel meetings focusing on medical care, manufacturing and logistics are part of the conference program.

The sessions will wrap up today. Four more agreements will be signed between the organizers and mainland IT companies.

In another development, 12 Taiwan information service companies, including the Syscom Group, Wistron and International Integrated Systems, set up an alliance to promote computerization across the Taiwan Straits. The Nanjing government pledged to recommend that local firms join the alliance and help IT companies to pool expertise and technology.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 07/28/2009 page2)