The Eighth China International Software and Information Service Fair (CISIS) kicks off on Tuesday in the port city of Dalian of Northeastern Liaoning province.

Themed as "Green growth powered by software," the four-day event will discuss the developing trends of the IT sector and showcase updated products and solutions. More than 700 exhibitors and 15,000 delegates are expected to attend the fair.

Dalian has been a host city of CISIS, the only state-level software fair in China, for seven years. With the event becoming more influential, the software sector has become a leading force for the green growth of the city's economy, said Li Wancai, Mayor of Dalian, at the opening ceremony.

The main forum, the International Software and Information Services Forum and Entrepreneurs Summit, discussed how to build a green IT industry. At the forum, Yi Xiaozhun, Vice Minister of Commerce, said China’s software export and outsourcing continued its fast growth in 2009 amid the global financial crisis.

"The revenue of China's software sector reached nearly one trillion yuan last year. The number of enterprises with annual income of more than one billion yuan reached 43," he said.

Yi said the contract value of service outsourcing in the first five months of 2010 worth $7.48 billion, up 112.6 percent year on year.

Industry insiders believe the high-growth new technologies will bring more opportunities to China's software sector.

By Zhu Chengpei and Zhang Xiaomin (China Daily Dalian Bureau)