The capital attracted 560 million USD of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half of the year, representing a 14 percent year-on-year increase.

The Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee, Vu Hong Khanh, told the conference held in Hanoi on July 9 that FDI disbursement in the period rose by 6.5 percent to 405 million USD over the same period last year.

"Production and businesses of FDI enterprises in Hanoi have not been remarkably affected by escalating tension in the East Sea," Khanh said.

He said total investment in the city between January and June was estimated at 871.1 trillion VND (41.4 billion USD), increasing 10.2 percent against the corresponding period last year.

The city's budget spent 7.7 trillion VND (366.7 million USD) for investment in development, meeting 44 percent of the whole year's target.

He added that Hanoi has been focusing on implementing ODA projects with disbursement of 1.43 trillion VND (68.1 million USD).

The city has been rushed to complete 22 key projects by 2015.

It has done its planning on improving the business environment as well as increasing its provincial competitiveness index (PCI). It carried out meetings with around 70 businesses in the capital to quickly solve their difficulties while continuing to apply policies on preferential lending rates.

Statistics from the committee showed that by the end of May, the city had 6,150 businesses registered for operations with total capital 33.2 trillion VND (1.58 billion USD), reducing 1.5 percent in comparison with the same period last year.

More than 5,300 firms stopped their operations, representing a 4.7 percent year-on-year increase, of which 848 companies are implementing insolvency procedures.

He said the city would continue to resolve its difficulties in agriculture, rural areas, export products and support industry. It has supported small and medium sized enterprises with low lending rates between 7 and 8 percent, he added.-VNA