Ambassador to the United States Willy C. Gaa welcomed the delegation of the 1^st Uniglobal Services Outsourcing (USO), Inc. IT Mission to the U.S. at a reception held at the Philippine Embassy June 26 attended by key members and representatives of business chambers and organizations in the Metro D.C. Area. “Trade missions such as this one and the continued confidence of our business partners in the Philippines and abroad will make possible President Arroyo’s prediction that 2007 will be the year when it all comes together,” said Ambassador Gaa before members of the Philippine-American Chamber of Commerce, Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA), the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, and staffers of U.S. Representatives John Mica (R-FL), Lee Terry (R-NE), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), and Senator John McCain (R-AZ).

The Philippine Delegation, composed of representatives from E-PLDT Ventus (Call Center), Vinzons-Chato Law Office (Legal Transcription), Cronus Group, Inc. (Software Development), Electronic Business Services-Asia Pacific (Finance & Accounting), and The Software Factory, Inc. (SAP Applications & Solutions) is led by Dr. Mina T. Gabor, USO President and former Secretary of the Department of Tourism (DOT).

Newly-elect Representative of the lone district of Camarines Norte, and former Bureau of Internal Revunue (BIR) Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, also joined the delegation as Observer.
In the BPO/IT Services market, the Philippines is estimated to have reached US$2.54 billion in 2006. The Call Center industry is expected to attain a revenue level of US$3.5 billion annually by 2008, potentially overtaking India in share of the global outsourcing market for call center services. In 2001, there were only 2,000 employees working in BPO companies in the Philippines. It is expected than a million jobs will be created by the business sector alone in 2010.

Dr. Gabor disclosed that the Philippines, as recently announced by Dr. James Poisant, Secretary-General of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), ranks 2nd or 3rd in terms of competitiveness among member countries of WITSA, a consortium of IT industry association from 60 economies around the world representing over 90 percent of the world’s IT market.

The delegation already visited Los Angeles and Florida before meeting potential partners in Washington, D.C. and Virginia, and was scheduled to visit Delaware and Philadelphia June 29, then New York, New Jersey (July 2-3), and San Francisco (July 5-6).