The southern province of Dong Nai climbed to the fourth position nationwide in foreign direct investment (FDI) attraction with 1,056 valid projects worth 19.64 billion USD by October 20, according to the Foreign Investment Agency.

The province exceeded its yearly FDI attraction target in the first ten months of 2013 with a total investment capital of over 1 billion USD, the agency added.

As many as 36 countries and territories have so far invested in Dong Nai, mainly from Taiwan , the Republic of Korea , Japan , ASEAN countries, Europe and America.

Of those, Japan ranks third with 3 billion USD and its projects focus on hi-tech and support industry.
To achieve these outcomes, Dong Nai has intensified investment promotion activities to introduce its potential and preferential policies to foreign investors, said Director of the provincial Planning and Investment Department Bo Ngoc Thu.

In FDI attraction, the province has given priorities to hi-tech and support industry projects as well as high added value, environmentally-friendly and energy-saving ones, she added.

The director further said that Dong Nai has also created a healthy and transparent business environment, conducted administrative reforms and offered supporting activities to facilitate foreign investors.

The province has paid attention to protecting the environment of Dong Nai River by minimising projects that pose pollution risks.

Dong Nai has to date withdrawn the investment licences of 354 FDI projects worth nearly 4.4 billion USD due to their inadequate waste water treatment facilities or low progress.

Vietnam raked in 19.2 billion USD in FDI in the first 10 months of this year, a whopping 65.5 percent more than last year's figure, according to the General Statistics Office.

As many as 52 countries and territories had new investment projects in Vietnam during the period.-VNA