Hanoi (VNA) - The northern province of Bac Ninh licensed 119 newforeign direct investment (FDI) projects worth 334.8 million USD in the firsteight months of 2020, according to the provincial Statistics Office.

To be attractive to both foreign and domestic investors, Bac Ninh focused onimproving business climate with giving priority to projects which use lessland, less labour; have high investment rate, much budget collection and hightechnology, the Vietnam Government Portal (VGP) reported.

The province also allowed 1,602 existing FDI projects to increase theircapital by 19.64 billion USD.

Of these, 1,331 projects are in manufacturing and processing industry, makingup 83 percent; including 1,205 projects from the Republic of Korea, 112projects from China and 86 projects from Japan.

Together with general preferential mechanisms and policies of the State, theprovince also proposed some initiatives to encourage investment in industrialzones and boost on-the-spot investment promotion through creating images frombig FDI businesses, such as: Samsung, Canon and Foxcon.

In the last 20 years, Bac Ninh province in the Northern Key Economic zone hasgrown from an agricultural community to a major industrial center with thesecond-highest per capita income and one of the highest economic growth ratesin the country.

Surrounded by major economic centres such as Hanoi and Hai Phong, it hasmanaged to establish itself as one of the major FDI destinations./.