Sri Lankan IT firms are in for an excellent opportunity to vie for contracts for software outsourcing from Japanese companies.

This is following an initiative by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) which as part of its efforts in helping Asian companies to enter into Japanese market is engaged in doing business matching for IT software outsourcing companies in five Asian countries for potential Japanese clients.

The five selected countries under the initiative, first of its kind by JETRO, are Sri Lanka, India, Malasia, Philippines and People’s Republic of  China.

JETRO’s Colombo office said that the objective of the program is to promote business between Japanese software companies and outsourcing companies in Asia, especially in the five countries selected.

A software expert from Japan will visit Sri Lanka in mid-October to identity and select suitable companies who could provide the required outsourcing service to the Japanese companies.  The profiles and data of the selected Sri Lankan companies will be compiled in to a database, which will be distributed among the Japanese software companies.

In addition to IT business match making, JETRO is also organising an IT sourcing trade fair titled “J-OFIS 2003 as well.  Selected companies could apply to participate at this fair through the JETRO Colombo office.

J-OFIS from January 30 to 31, 2003 is organised by the JETRO for overseas outsourcers attempting to expand their activities into the Japanese IT market.  It is a new trade fair by JETRO and is aimed at encouraging globalisation and the competitive power of the Japanese software services industry.