The fifth China International Service Outsourcing Cooperation Conference will be held in Nanjing from June 18 to 20, according to a Nanjing government news conference held on Tuesday.

Seven hundred companies from 21 countries and regions will participate in the conference. Multinational companies such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Accenture and Capgemini are expected to take part in it, according to the organizer.

Since 2008, the service outsourcing industry has developed quickly in Jiangsu, said Yu Zhen, Jiangsu's deputy inspector of Ministry of Commerce said.

In 2011, the value of offshore service outsourcing in Jiangsu amounted to $6.4 billion, up 57.38 percent year-on-year. Jiangsu has gradually developed its comparative advantages in the software outsourcing, animation, industrial design, medical development and financial backstage service industries, Yu said.

A good location, governmental support and a capable workforce are the reasons for the industry's development in the province, said Yu Zhen. Three cities in Jiangsu - Nanjing, Suzhou and Wuxi - have been deemed models of national service outsourcing.

The organizer said it hopes the conference will give local companies opportunities to enter into deals with multinational companies.