The People’s Committee of southern Binh Duong Province granted investment certificates to 21 projects worth US$1.3 billion, the first batch of projects to receive the go-ahead this year on Wednesday.

Of these, 10 are new foreign direct investment (FDI) projects whose registered capital totals around $740.7 million, and eight are existing FDI projects that had applied for capital increase totalling $536 million. The remaining three projects are by local investors and have combined registered capital of VND740 billion ($32.8 million).

Tran Thanh Liem, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the new projects and project expansion plans reflect investor confidence and long-term commitment to contributing to the province’s development.

So far, the province has attracted $27 billion of FDI from around 2,900 projects, ranking second in FDI capital scale, after HCM City. However, the amount of FDI capital flowing into the southern province has been higher since the beginning of 2017. — VNS