Russia said that it would become the next global IT outsourcing hotspot like India, the world's current leading outsourcing destination. However, the country must overcome competitors from Central and Eastern European countries before it can contend with the outsourcing giant.

The country wishes to replicate India's high-tech centers in Bangalore and Hyderabad. To do this, IT minister Leonid Reiman said that the government would spend $650 million, install tax breaks, create free economic zones, and establish a network of high-tech business parks.

IT is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Russian economy. The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications projected that Russia's offshore outsourcing market will be worth $2 billion by 2007.

Reiman said, "Our vision is for Russia to become a global center of innovation and entrepreneurship, a place where radically new, breakthrough technologies are developed. We want Russia to be a place where 'the next big thing' is born."