The city state, according to the latest statistics from the Department of Foreign Investment, has over the first seven months of this year pumped over 1.3 billion USD into 44 projects in Vietnam, coming in at second among 39 countries and territories investing in Vietnam over the period.

Since 1988, when Vietnam first rolled out its Law on Foreign Investment, the tiny country has funnelled a total of 9.6 billion USD into 503 enterprises, the largest investment by any ASEAN country.

The average investment per project was also higher than the level for all other FDI initiatives, coming in at 18.7 million USD. That figure is 2-3 times higher than that of projects from several other foreign investor heavyweights such as the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

An expert from the Department of Foreign Investment, Nguyen Thuy Huong, said Singaporean investors are involved in almost all economic fields in the country, ranging from oil and gas exploitation, industry to agro-forestry-fisheries processing to the service sector.

Recently, Singaporean investors have shown a more marked interest in real estate by wading into the development of apartment, office and hotel complexes.

An official from the Singaporean General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City said that Singapore's experience in housing was due to his country's limited land acreage.

According to the Department of Foreign Investment, the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Zone Joint Venture and the Nasteelvina Company - a joint venture in steel production - are some of Singapore's bigger projects that are already reaping heavy benefits for the investor and the host country alike