According to the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, ROK firms invested in 251 new projects worth nearly US$759 million and pumped an additional US$1.18 trillion into 179 existing projects. Meanwhile, their capital contributions and share purchases reached US$494.46 million.

With 9,159 valid projects worth US$72.34 billion, the ROK now is the biggest foreign investor in Vietnam, the agency said.

This proves that ROK businesses have great confidence in Vietnam’s investment environment, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Foreign-Invested Enterprises Nguyen Van Toan told the Cong Thuong (Industry and Trade) newspaper.

Despite the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of newly-registered and capital-added projects invested by ROK firms is still increasing.

Nearly 60 Vietnamese localities nationwide have attracted investment from the ROK, led by the northern province of Bac Ninh with 957 projects worth US$10.7 billion, accounting for 14.9 percent of the northeast Asian country’s total investment in Vietnam.

The ROK’s investment projects have been quickly disbursed, significantly contributing to socio-economic growth and development in the Southeast Asian country, Toan said.

ROK firms’ projects mainly focus on the processing and manufacturing industry with 4,543 projects totaling US$53.1 billion, making up 73.5 percent of the country’s investment total in Vietnam.