Since its foundation in 2003 upon the Syrian Computer Society' (SCS) initiative, the Syrian Software Industry Forum “SIF” seeks to enable local software companies to enter competition, in order to expand their contribution to national income, and to attract investments in this regard.

Few days ago, 10 companies from “SIF” joined a project launched by Syrian Information & Telecommunication Ministry on November 2, 2009, in cooperation with the Syrian Computer Society (SCS) and the Egyptian center for evaluating and adopting software engineering.

The project aims to rehabilitate these companies to receive "CMMI" in the 1st and 2nd stages in order to improve quality of Syrian software products under world standards to be competitive with other companies on local and regional levels.

Speaking to Shaamexpo’s website, The SIF Head Mr. Ameen Qusibati described the project as an "essential step" for Syrian software companies to upgrade their capabilities.

However, he noted that CMMI should not necessary open new markets for Syrian companies as most of them target local markets.

"In fact, it is not enough to put CMMI as a condition in tenders, simply because offers are sometimes not valid for software companies", Mr. Qusibati said.

He underlined the necessity of solving this matter, noting that CMMI system is costly and might causes companies' inflation regarding mechanism of work and product's quality.

On other development, Mr. Qusibati cited a study to be made in cooperation with telecommunication ministry to have a full idea about software market.

He affirmed the necessity of cooperation between government, private sector, civil society and mass media to spread IT culture and to protect intellectual property rights.

Mr. Qusibati pointed out another important point, saying: "We consider tax exemption as a main demand… there is no study in this regard...we (as software companies) agree on the necessity of receiving tax exemption for 10 years to give us the chance to grow.

A lot of software applications are produced in Syria and Syrian accounting programs are remarkably available in Gulf market. However, language and experience hinder the promotion of such products all over the world.

Concerning the Syrian Computer Society's role in this sector, Mr. Qusibati stressed that the SCS is fully supporting “SIF” and is facilitating the local software companies' participation in local and regional expositions.

The “SIF” includes 40 companies specialized in IT industry in Syria that produces ERP, CRM, Business Information Systems, medical systems, network applications such as e-business, and many other IT solutions.