[Islam-Online- Science, Ideas & Technology]

BERLIN (AFP) - Germany is hardly welcoming to foreign computer experts in view of the jungle of red tape they need to wade through to get a work permit and political hostility in some quarters, the head of IBM Germany, Erwin Staudt, said.

In an interview published in the daily Berliner Zeitung, Staudt said: "Work permits for IT specialists need to be simplified as much as possible." With the complicated regulations originally put forward by labor minister Walter Riester, "we're scaring away potential candidates," Staudt told the newspaper.

Social Democrat Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder wants to hire up to 20,000 high-tech staff from outside the European Union to ease a shortage of information technology staff and has proposed a system similar to the Green Card used by the United States.

But the idea has been sharply criticized in some quarters. And in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the regional opposition Christian Democrats have launched a campaign against the plan in the run-up to regional state elections in May.

Asked whether as many as 20,000 IT experts would really come to Germany, Staudt replied: "That would be very important. But to be honest, I have doubts whether Germany is the most attractive country."

IT specialists from India or Eastern Europe "prefer to go to the U.S. or to Britain, because the Americans send a clear signal to foreigners that they're welcome. Germany doesn't." And campaigns such as that currently under way in North Rhine-Westphalia "contribute nothing to an improved climate, but are harmful to companies. We need to present ourselves as a liberal and open country," Staudt argued.