Bill Gates : Vietnam could become top outsourcing center

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Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said Vietnam has the potential to develop as an outsourcing center similar to India, during the first visit by the world's richest man to the Southeast Asian nation.
Gates met Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and President Tran Duc Luong in Hanoi, before crossing town to take questions from students at the Hanoi University of Technology. The visit by the head of the world's biggest software company takes place two months after Intel Corp., the world's biggest semiconductor maker, said it would build a plant in Vietnam.
While the U.S. government says infringement of intellectual property rights is rampant in Vietnam, the nation of 84 million people is attracting the attention of global technology companies, lured by economic growth exceeding 8 percent and an estimated literacy rate of at least 90 percent.
"It's great that Intel is coming here, and no doubt that other information-technology manufacturers will see the kinds of skills and labor here and come into the market," Gates said in Hanoi Saturday. "But in no sense should Vietnam specialize in manufacturing. Vietnam should also focus on software development, outsourcing. There's an opportunity to do call centers."
Citing the example of India, Gates said "hopefully Vietnam can also be a country that grows the capacity to supply skills to other countries, including the U.S."
On Saturday, with Gates looking on, Microsoft signed an accord with Vietnam's Ministry of Finance in which the ministry would become the first state body to use fully licensed software throughout its entire information technology system, according to a Finance Ministry press release.