MANILA, Philippines ? Citing a ?talented workforce with high IT [information technology] competence and language diversity,? a German company announced Tuesday that it would hire up to 200 Filipinos for its first Asian business process outsourcing (BPO) office to be set up here.

?In Bosch we believe that your business location should be where your clients are. And we chose Manila to set up Robert Bosch Communications Center Inc. (RBCCI) ? over 18 other cities including Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok ? because of its pool of talented workforce with high IT competence and language diversity,? said Kaycee Crisostomo, communications manager for Robert Bosch Inc., which provides services for RBCCI.

?Initial investment for the hiring of 100 to 200 agents amount to 500,000 euros ($678,774) but we are bullish to pour in more investments when we go about RBCCI?s expansion by next year. Right now I cannot chalk up the figures for expansion but definitely there is investment to be allotted for it,? he added.

RBCCI, which was inaugurated April 5, will hire Filipino agents with language skills in Chinese Mandarin, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, German and French ?to service its clients and expand its local presence in Asia.?

Manila?s strategic location in Asia and its network infrastructure for BPO services ? ranked as the third best in the world ? were also factors for its selection as Bosch?s first BPO center in Asia, the official added.

The new company, said Crisostomo, would offer IT helpdesk services to both internal and external clients of Bosch at a 30-70 portfolio mix, following the IT helpdesk implementation in the European and American markets by teams in Berlin, Buenos Aires and Timisoara in Romania.

?Asia is a very important market for Robert Bosch and we aim to gain inroads in this fast growing market through RBCCI. At present, no one can deny China is an emerging economic superpower and as a company, it would be unwise not to invest or tap into this market,? said Crisostomo.

RBCCI will focus on providing voice services, which it believes will grow and dominate the global BPO industry, which is primed to become a $100-billion market by 2020.