Vietnam’s businesses have so farregistered to invest in 440 projects with a total capital of over 6.8billion USD in 49 nations and territories, reports the ForeignInvestment Agency.

In the first eights months of the year, Vietnamese businessesregistered to invest 2.1 billion USD in projects outside Vietnam, saidthe department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment at arecent meeting.

The key markets targeted by Vietnamese businesses are ASEAN countries such as Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia, as well as Russia.

Expanding their business is a new trend in their strategies, FIA said.

Highlighted was the Military Telecoms Corporation (Viettel), which hasset a target of increasing its investment abroad to 100 million USD inthe near future.

In February, Viettel opened its mobile phone service network Metfone inCambodia which cost the company 30 million USD. Recently, it announcedit had completed all the necessary procedures to open a representativeoffice in Myanmar.

In its latest move, Viettel has informed Bangladesh’s state mobilephone company Teletalk, expressing its desire to invest 250 million USDin the company.

The Binh An Joint Stock Seafood Company is another example of thistrend. The company said that its plan to invest 10 million USD in afast food chain in the US got underway recently.

According to FIA, in order to boost investment overseas,Vietnamese businesses need to overcome a number of difficulties,including weak financial potential and poor awareness of foreign laws./.