The capital city of Hanoi is exerting great efforts to diversify investment promotions to attract more capital, especially foreign direct investment (FDI), according to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment.

This city is aiming at potential investors from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Eastern Asia, the United States and the European Union and is prioritising large-scale projects using high technology, the department director, Ngo Van Quy told the investment news website baodautu.vn.

It is also aiming at further improving the investment climate and creating the best conditions for investors to implement their licensed projects, he said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment's Foreign Investment Agency reported that in the first half of this year, Hanoi had attracted 583 million USD in FDI. This represents an increase of 30 percent over that of the same period last year but accounts for only 45 percent of the city's total 2014 FDI target.

The department attributed the result to the current difficult context, when businesses had to face numerous challenges and the global market had become increasingly competitive.

During the period under review, the city had licensed 145 new foreign-invested projects worth 116 million USD and allowed 50 licensed projects to increase their capital by 467 million USD.

The manufacturing and processing industry ranked first among industries that have attracted more FDI at more than 40 percent of the city's total while trade attracted 20 percent and science and technology, 14 percent.

The Republic of Korea ranked first among foreign investors, accounting for 35.8 percent of total investments, followed by Japan at 35.7 percent and Hong Kong and China at 12.3 percent.-VNA