Disbursement of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of this year experienced a modest increase of 6 percent to 13.25 billion USD compared to the same period last year. Statistics from the Foreign Investment Agency showed during the period, FDI commitments totaled 25.37 billion USD, almost equivalent to the same period last year. Up to over 2,180 new projects were licensed with a total registered capital of 14.1 billion USD between January and September, while over 840 existing projects were given an additional 5.5 billion USD, a reduction of 18 percent compared to the same period of last year. The data also showed 104 countries and territories invested in Vietnam in the nine-month period. Among them, Japan ranked first with 7 billion USD, making up 28 percent of total investment. The Republic of Korea and Singapore come second and third.-VNA