Hanoi (VNA) – A total of 1,285 deals were made by foreign investors tocontribute capital to and buy shares of Vietnamese businesses with totalcapital of 1.89 billion USD in the first quarter of this year, up 121.6 percentagainst the same period last year.

The increase was attributed to the country’smore open investment environment as investors who want to contribute capital orbuy shares do not have to register for investment licences like thoseconducting foreign direct investment (FDI) projects.

Therefore, “many investors choose this typeof investment, since they do not waste time to carry out investment proceduresand quickly gain access to the Vietnamese market,” said Nguyen Mai, head of theVietnam Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises.

On the other hand, during the period,decreases were seen in newly-registered capital and additional capital pouredinto existing projects, at 27.3 percent and 54.6 percent, respectively.

In total, Vietnam attracted 5.8 billion USDin foreign investment during January-March, down 25 percent year-on-year.

The Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment(MoPI) reported that processing and manufacturing remained the most attractivesector to foreign investors, receiving 3.44 billion USD and accounting for 59.4percent of the total commitments.

The retail and wholesale sectors receivedthe second largest chunk of FDI with 531 million USD or 9.2 percent, followedby the real estate sector with 486 million USD or 8.4 percent.

The Republic of Korea remained the biggestforeign investor among 76 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in thefirst quarter of 2018, with total registered capital of 1.84 billion USD, 31.6percent of the total capital.

Businesses from Hong Kong registered to pour689 million into Vietnam, making up 11.9 percent of the country’s total FDI,while those from Singapore injected 649 million USD, 11.2 percent of total FDI.

The southern economic hub of Ho Chi MinhCity continued to be the largest recipient of FDI during the period with 1.7billion USD, while the northern port city of Hai Phong received 925 million USDto take second place.

The third largest destination of FDI was thesouthern province of Binh Duong with investment worth 565 million USD.

To fully capitalise on the FDI capital, theMoPI is drafting a FDI strategy for 2018-2023. With assistance from the WorldBank, the FDI strategy underlines that Vietnam should focus on sectors havingadvantages and those that foreign firms could bring more benefits to ratherthan domestic firms.

The draft strategy stipulates Vietnam definepriority sectors for attracting FDI, such as those that need increased valueand competitiveness, including manufacturing, services, agriculture andtravel.-VNA