The Republic of Korea maintains its leading status among 47 foreign investors in Viet Nam with a registered investment of 2.1 billion USD, making up 25.4 percent of the total. The RoK was followed by Singapore with 1.3 billion USD or 16.6 percent of the total, the British Virgin Islands with 1.2 billion USD and Taiwan with 629.7 million USD. Japan took over the fifth position from India by pouring in 623.1 million USD. Newly-licensed projects averaged 8 million USD a project against 7.01 million USD recorded in the same period last year. The top 15 projects alone accounted for 45.7 percent of the combined investment of the 1,045 newcomers, reported the Foreign Investment Department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Major investments were mostly poured into the heavy industry and real estate development such as construction of hotels or office and apartment buildings for rent.
Of the 64 cities and provinces nationwide, 50 have managed to attract FDI projects. Ho Chi Minh City led the nation with 1.1 billion USD in FDI while the oil-rich Ba Ria-Vung Tau province ranked second with 1.06 billion USD. Ha Noi took the third place with 864 million USD and Binh Duong, the fourth, with 634 million USD.
To meet a target of 13 billion USD in FDI for 2007, the Foreign Investment Department is focusing investment in vocational training to meet investors’ demands for high-skilled workforce