China will become the fastest growing market in the Asia-Pacific for US-based consulting firm BearingPoint Inc, its top executive said over the weekend.

Randolph Blazer, chairman and chief executive officer of BearingPoint, which claims to be the largest consulting firm in China, plans to tap the business potential here by expanding its local operations.

"China is the fast growing piece in the whole regional pie," Blazer told China Daily.

He made the remarks while touring Shanghai and Beijing last week to review business operations in China and meet government officials to seek further partnerships.

"We are betting a lot in China," Blazer said, adding China and the Asia-Pacific region is the key to future growth.

The company earned US$3.1 billion in revenue last year. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 8 to 12 per cent of that total. Blazer said he believed China would develop into a tremendous market for consulting services, given its fast economic development since its entry into the World Trade Organization in December 2001.

BearingPoint's operations in China last year grew by 700 per cent.

Headquartered in Shanghai, the company entered the Chinese market in August 2001. It has branches in Beijing and Guangzhou.

And a new branch will be set up soon in Chongqing Municipality, Blazer said, without saying when.

"What we can bring to our clients is good business prospects and system alignment methodologies. We can also bring them the best experience of the best global companies around the world."

BearingPoint serves many top Chinese companies, including PertoChina, SinoPec, China Development Bank, China Construction Bank, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom.

According to Blazer, the company's most important investment in China is probably in its workforce as it aims to localize solutions and business teams, to provide more development opportunities both for client and employees.

BearingPoint has nearly 600 staff in China, and the number will reach 1,000 by mid-2004, he said.

At the end of 2002, BearingPoint established the first Global Development Centre in China.

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