The northern province of Thai Nguyen has set a target of reaching 2.6 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2015, the Vietnam Economic News (VEN) reports.

The on-line newspaper quoted Thai Nguyen Department of Planning and Investment as saying that since the beginning of 2015, the province has seen a four-fold increase in FDI compared with same time last year, as it topped 917.4 million USD.

In recent years, Thai Nguyen has gained the trust of foreign investors due to its efforts in improving the investment environment. The province now ranks 10th among the country’s 63 provinces and cities in terms of attracting FDI, the department said.

The report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency revealed that as of April 2015, the province had attracted 80 foreign-invested projects with a total registered capital of more than 7 billion USD. Further, in the past four months the province lured 114.1 million USD in FDI.

Regular dialogues between businesses, provincial officials and bankers to ease difficulties for businesses have also been ongoing. As a result, many investors have received preferential loans from commercial banks and benefited from tax policies, according to Long.