The year 2008 got off to a flying start for southern coastal Ba Ria-Vung Tau province as it welcomed three more foreign invested projects, bringing in a total of almost 1.35 billion USD in only the first two weeks of the year.

The province has vowed to maintain its place in the ten most competitive provinces in the country this year.

Addressing a meeting with foreign-invested businesses’ leaders in the province on Jan. 15, the provincial authorities committed to further simplifying administrative procedures and training human resources in order to create a better investment environment for foreign investors.

Last year, Ba Ria-Vung Tau was rated 8 th among the country’s provinces and centrally-run cities in terms of competitiveness, a remarkable jump from the 17 th place in 2006.

As a result, the province attracted 57 foreign-invested projects with a total capital of more than 1.2 billion USD last year, bringing the total number of foreign-invested projects to 196 with a combined capital of around 7.6 billion USD.

(Source: VNA)

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