A New Year meeting with investors held last week helped the central province of Nghe An attract an additional 18.227 trillion VND (856.67 million USD) of pledged capital from investors, both domestic and foreign, the The Saigon Times Daily reported.

At the meeting with nearly 500 businesses, the provincial government signed nine investment agreements with a total pledged capital of nearly 17 trillion VND and granted investment certificates to three projects worth 1.3 trillion VND.

The province is capturing much attention from investors, both in and outside the country. According to provincial People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Xuan Duong, the province has been stepping up administrative reform and organising many investment promotion programmes.

Infrastructure in Nghe An is being improved such as the upgrade of National Highway 1A’s section in the province to be finished late this year and Vinh Airport to have a new terminal to handle 2.5-3 million passengers per year.

Vinh Airport is currently serving one international route and five domestic routes with an average of 15 flights per day.

The provincial government pledged to continue improving the investment environment, offer incentive policies, and remove difficulties for investors in registering and implementing projects.

Nghe An province licensed 89 projects last year, with 84 of domestic investors worth 13.31 trillion VND and the rest belonging to foreign investors worth 21 million USD.

The province is now home to 588 domestic projects worth 109.59 trillion VND and 39 foreign with combined pledged capital of 1.49 billion USD. Many of the projects using high technology and operating effectively.-VNA