Vietnam attracted 21.48 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) this year despite the world economic crisis and competition from regional countries.

Of the total, 16.34 billion USD are registered capital of 839 newly-licensed projects and the rest comes from increased capital of 215 ongoing projects, reported the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

The agency said that accommodation and restaurant service continues to arouse the biggest interest of foreign investors this year, drawing in 8.8 billion USD.

Real estate business comes second with an estimated 7.6 billion USD. It is followed by the manufacturing and processing industry with 2.97 billion USD.

In 2009, the country’s disbursed capital is estimated at 10 billion USD, about 1.5 billion USD lower than the figure of 2008 when pledged FDI reached a record high of 64 billion USD, according to the agency.

During the reviewed period, FDI enterprises posted encouraging results due to a combined export turnover of 29.9 billion USD, including oil and gas, making up 52.7 percent of Vietnam’s total export revenues.

FIA experts attributed these achievements to the government’s efforts to improve the investment environment making it more suitable with international practices and laws.

In addition, provinces and cities have taken the initiative in luring this source of capital by restructuring various departments for better efficiency including administrative procedures and licensing as well as facilitating implementation of FDI projects.

However, the experts said Vietnam needs to upgrade its infrastructures and better develop human resources and management capacity of local authorities to accelerate the disbursement tempo, which has been considered a big obstacle for foreign investors.

The agency said the country is expected to attract from 22-25 billion USD in FDI and disburse between 10 and 11 billion USD in 2010./.