February alone saw 96 projects licensed with a combined registered capital of 1.2 billion USD, marking a year-on-year rise of 11 percent and 27 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, 38 operational projects were permitted to inject 360 million USD to their investment capital.

Thailand emerged as the biggest investor in Viet Nam in the two-month period with 33.8 percent of the total money flow, including a 220 million USD paper plant project in Binh Duong invested by the Siam Cement Group.

The past two months have also witnessed an increase in the number of foreign investors seeking opportunities in Viet Nam, including the Foxcora group from Taiwan with a plan to build a five billion USD "city" specialising in hi-end electronic products in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang. One billion USD will be injected into the first phase of the project, scheduled for 2007.

Meanwhile, the Gamuda group of Malaysia plans to pour one billion USD in building hotels, conference centres, and luxury buildings. The Rivier group from Japan wants to build a 500 million USD five-star hotel in Ha Noi, and the Compell group of Taiwan projects a 500 million USD electronics production plant.

Investors from the Republic of Korea (RoK) also proposed to invest 500 million USD in building a racecourse./.