Vietnam will set up an investment promotion fund in an attempt to lure more foreign direct investment (FDI) and official development aid (ODA) into the country, a local agency said Wednesday.

"The Ministry of Planning and Investment has just submitted to the government a scheme on establishing an investment promotion fund for approval. The fund is planned to mainly assist investment promotion activities in major markets, targeting investors having source and high-technology," the ministry's Foreign Investment Department was quoted as saying.

The fund will help cities and provinces in the same region hold events at home and abroad in a bid to call for foreign investment more effectively, the department said, noting that many localities have already implemented their own investment promotion activities, but with low effect.

The fund will have capital of some 30 billion Vietnamese dong ( nearly 1.9 million U.S. dollars), mainly coming from the state budget and donation of foreign countries as well as some foreign- invested enterprises in Vietnam.

A department official recently told Xinhua that Vietnam had targeted to attract 5 billion dollars FDI this year, down from 5.8 billion U.S. dollars last year, citing slow infrastructure construction and changes in the investment law as major reasons.

"However, we can beat the 5-billion U.S. dollar target easily," the official said, adding that Vietnam enticed 5.8 billion dollars FDI in 2005, up from the target of 4.5 billion U.S. dollars.

As of May 20, Vietnam housed 6,341 FDI projects with total registered capital of over 53.6 billion U.S. dollars, the department said.

Source: Xinhua