An image of Quang Trung software city.

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) —The Quang Trung Software City (QTSC) this year will work to complete its technical infrastructure and service system, targeting to attract more investors, delegates told a seminar yesterday in HCM City.

Chu Tien Dung, chairman of the QTSC Development Company, said: "The park has pledged to improve its management and services quality to make it more professional and transparent," he said.

In addition, it will support IT firms so they can expand their market, including trade promotions in Myanmar and other countries, he added.

The park also plans to work with localities like Lam Dong and Nam Dinh provinces to help them develop the IT industry and establish more software parks in the country, he said.

Speaking at the seminar, Le Manh Ha, deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee, said the software park had attracted substantial investments from leading firms in the industry and become a model that could be expanded elsewhere in the country.

Le Quoc Cuong, deputy director of the City Department of Information and Technology, said the park had spurred economic restructuring in the city by promoting the role of the knowledge-based economy with high-quality and added-value products and services.

Cuong said his department would co-operate with the park to hold more dialogues between IT firms and agencies to help businesses solve operating difficulties.

At the seminar, a representative of the Ministry of Information and Technology discussed the Government's Decree No154/2013/ND-CP regulating incentives for investment in centralised IT zones, which went into effect in January. —VNS

The centralised IT Zone focuses on research and development, training, production and sales of IT products and services, providing IT services to organisations, businesses, and other activities related to IT.

Under the decree, organisations and enterprises in the centralised IT Zone will receive preferential tax, investment credit and customs procedures.

"For example, the new projects in the zone will enjoy corporate tax exemption for four years and a 50 per cent deduction in payable tax over the next nine years," said Nguyen Anh Tuan of the IT Department under the Ministry of Information and Communication.

In addition, businesses will be exempt from import duties on goods used as fixed assets and for production activities.

According to Lam Nguyen Hai Long, QTSC's deputy director, 108 companies are located in the park. They are involved in software, IT services and human resource training, including global IT giants like IBM and HP.

The total revenue of IT companies in the park reached US$130 million last year, a year-on-year increase of more than 20 per cent, with software exports going up strongly last year to top $78 million, he said.

It had also created jobs for more than 17,000 workers and become the country's biggest software training centre, he said.

The seminar is part of a series of activities to mark the 13th anniversary of QTSC.

Currently, besides QTSC, there are two other centralised IT zones in Viet Nam - Da Nang Software Park and Ha Noi's Cau Giay IT Park. — VNS