World Outsourcing Forum delegates sign Declaration of Intent

To help put these plans into action the delegates also stated their intention to form an Outsourcing Steering Committee.

The document will serve as a precursor to the Dubai Declaration of Outsourcing to be announced in 2006. The World Outsourcing Forum was held in Dubai from 27th to 28th September 2005.

Led by Ismail Al Naqi, Director of Dubai Outsource Zone the declaration was signed by industry leaders from various outsourcing destinations including Florin Vrejoiu, Director General, Aries, Romania; George Sharkov, Chairman, Basscom, Bulgaria; Suresh Bartlett, Director, ICTA, Sri Lanka; David Walsh, Malta Enterprise, Malta; Nalin Koli, Chairman, ESC, India; Valentin Makarov, Chairman, Russoft, Russia

The Steering Committee will seek to work together to raise awareness of the benefits of outsourcing and create a positive public perception of the industry through marketing campaigns and educational initiatives. They will seek to provide joint funding to support academic research on outsourcing, and will facilitate research to support outsourcing associations and their members.

The steering committee members will encourage their respective governments to fund education and build infrastructure as well as providing joint funding to support academic research on outsourcing.

The steering committee members will also seek to work with governments, associations and the industry to facilitate standardisation in the fields of Intellectual Property Rights and Data Security Legislation related to outsourcing.

"It is our intention that the World Outsourcing Forum Declaration of Intent will serve as a first step in creating a standard set of regulations for this global industry, to help ensure the quality and build trust between vendors and buyers of outsource services," said Ismail Al Naqi, Dubai Outsource Zone. "The conference has been highly productive and we are very pleased that we have been able to document our plans and strategies for facilitating the long-term success of this fast growing industry."

The steering committee will negotiate with key international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation and their respective governmental bodies to promote fair business practices and corporate governance to provide a much needed legal and support framework for the outsourcing industry with an emphasis on free competition.

In addition, it acknowledged support for bilateral cooperation between industry associations and the development of a 'trust database' to share information to develop the industry in its entirety.

The steering committee will also seek to tackle the negative image of the industry such as job losses in companies due to the outsourcing services, through education and marketing campaigns.