The New Nation - Internet Edition

Xinhua, Hanoi

Vietnam, though targeting foreign direct investment (FDI) of only 14-15 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, is much likely to attract FDI of more than 20 billion dollars this year like it did last year, according to local newspaper Vietnam Economic Times on Thursday.

The country's Ministry of Planning and Investment is considering licensing some FDI projects worth billions of dollars each.

They include a Chinese-invested project on building a thermoelectric plant in central Binh Thuan province with investment of 1.4 billion dollars, an Indian-backed projects on producing steel in central Ha Tinh province with investment of nearly 3.8 billion dollars, and a Swiss-invested project worth 2.9 billion dollars on developing tourism on southern Phu Quoc island. Vietnam lured a record FDI of 20.3 billion dollars in 2007, bringing the total registered capital to 83 billion dollars with 8, 590 operational FDI projects by the end of the year.