The southern province of Đồng Nai attracted nearly US$1 billion worth of foreign investment as of August 20, up 34 per cent year-on-year, according to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment.

Of that, over $640 million was contributed by 61 newly foreign-invested projects, while the remainder of nearly $449 million was by 74 capital-added ones, the department said, adding that most of these projects headed into the industrial parks.

The department’s director Nguyễn Hữu Nguyên said new projects came from countries and territories such as South Korea, Taiwan (China), Japan and Singapore.

Nguyên said Đồng Nai Province will continue to remove obstacles in attracting foreign investment to create a favourable environment for businesses.

In addition, it will publicly list projects calling for investment and foster investment promotion activities to potential markets to find investors that can meet the criteria set by the province, Nguyên told baodongnai.com.vn.

To date, the province is home to more than 1,600 foreign-invested projects, valued at $35 billion.

The online newspaper cited Phạm Đức Thắng, Managing Director of Cargill Animal Nutrition Thailand and Việt Nam, as saying that that Đồng Nai is the first investment destination of the group in Việt Nam. After successfully investing in the locality, the group has expanded nationwide.

Over the past 30 years of investing in Đồng Nai, the group has received support from the province in resolving difficulties and obstacles in production and business and Cargill has continuously increased its investment capital in the province Vice Chairwoman of Đồng Nai People’s Committee Nguyễn Thị Hoàng said that to facilitate foreign investment attraction, the province has established a working group, headed by the committee leader.

The working group is tasked with promoting the establishment of new industrial parks to promptly supplement the province’s industrial land fund, Hoàng told the online newspaper.

Đồng Nai currently has 33 established industrial parks covering a total area of over 10,500ha. Of these, 32 are already operational, with nearly 2,100 companies already working from them. — VNS