ISLAMABAD, July 12: Huawei Technologies, one of the largest IT and telecommunications firms in China, has decided to set up a research and software development centre in the capital which will start functioning within the next few months.

Li Xiao Tao, senior vice president and head of the R&D Division for Huawei world wide, gave this assurance during a meeting with Secretary for Ministry of Information Technology Khalid Saeed here on Monday.

Mr Li is currently touring Pakistan as the leader of a four- member high-powered delegation. They have already visited Lahore and reviewed the pace of IT and software development there.

Li Xiao Tao said his company had a long standing presence in Pakistan and carried out a number of projects of both NTC and PTCL. "The telecom market in Pakistan is booming, and Huawei intends to be an integral part of this boom," he said.

The setting up of a software development centre in Pakistan "makes business sense as the quality of the manpower available coupled with the comparatively lower costs delivers immediate business benefits," he added.

During the meeting, Yuan Ziwen, the chief operating officer of Huawei Technologies India, commented that the general infrastructure available to IT companies in Pakistan compared favourably with that available in the region.

"One major advantage that Pakistan enjoys over other countries in the region is that the attitude towards work is very positive, and that individuals are loyal to the companies that they work with," he said.

The IT secretary, while thanking the delegation for their decision to expand the research and development activity in this country, highlighted the importance of coordination between private and public sector in setting up joint ventures for targeting major government projects and for implementation of quality standards.

He urged the private sector to work closely with the government to suggest and propose new ways and means of further developing IT sector in Pakistan. Inviting the delegation members' attention to the recent policies offering vast investment opportunities in telecom sector, he said his ministry was offering free back up bandwidth through satellite for call centres.

Besides, centres of excellence for multimedia and graphic design for gaming and animation industry had also been set up. Similarly programmes such as the training of human resources for the call centres were also under way.

Pakistan Software Export Board Managing Director Dr Amir Matin said the PSEB had taken various initiatives for the uplift of IT-enabled services industry which included certification of five call centres at Customer Operation and Performance Centre (COPC), training of 2,000 customers support representatives and 25 operational managers etc.

Huawei's customers include China Telecom, China Mobile, China Netcom, China Unicom as well as Thai AIS, Telefonica, SingTel, Hutchison Telecom, PCCW HKT, SUNDAY, Etisalat (UAE), Telemar (Brazil), Rostelecom (Russia), etc. Huawei's contracted sales in 2003 reached $3.83 billion, an increase of 42 per cent year over the previous year.