The northern port city of Hai Phong attracted over 1.1 billion USD in new and added foreign investment in the first eight months of this year, ranking second in the country after southern Binh Duong province.

They city licensed 20 new FDI projects in the period, with a total investment of over 1 billion USD and 18 existing projects added capital worth 77.6 million USD. Of the total value, 97 percent comes from Japan .

Most of the FDI is poured into hi-tech industrial projects, with the biggest invested by tyre maker Bridgestone worth 574 million USD. Nipro Pharma registered a 250 million USD project while Fuji Xerox received a licence for its 119 million USD plant.

Binh Duong led the country in attracting FDI this year, with 1.84 billion USD in the Jan-Aug period, while Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi drop to the fourth and fifth position respectively, after Hai Phong and Dong Nai.

As per August 20 statistics, 672 new projects were licensed nationwide with a total capital of 5.52 billion USD, equivalent to 56.5 percent of the same period last year. Meanwhile, 244 existing projects added 2.95 billion USD to their capital, raising the total FDI in the first eight month of this year to 8.47 billion USD, equivalent to 66.1 percent of the 2011 figure.-VNA