HANOI, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has so far this year licensed 226 foreign-invested projects of 28 countries and regions, the Foreign Investment Agency said on Tuesday, noting that China was the biggest investor.

Since the beginning of this year, Vietnam has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) of more than 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, and seen realized capital of foreign-invested projects reaching nearly 1.6 billion U.S. dollars, posting respective year-on-year rises of 27.3 percent and 9.2 percent.

Among the FDI, 805 million U.S. dollars came from 226 fresh projects, up 81.9 percent in registered capital and up 36.1 percent in projects, and 340.3 million U.S. dollars were additional capital of 72 operational projects, down 25.5 percent in capital.

Up to 73.4 percent of registered capital of projects licensed in January were in the manufacturing and processing sector, 8.1 percent in transport and warehouse sector, and 7.4 percent in rubbish and wastewater treatment.

Among 28 countries and regions which had investment projects licensed in Vietnam in January, China was the biggest investor with 221.6 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 27.5 percent of total registered capital, followed by Japan with 215.7 million U.S. dollars, and Samoa with 77 million U.S. dollars, said the agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Also in January, foreign investors spent 761.9 million U.S. dollars buying shares or contributing capital to Vietnamese firms, surging 114 percent against the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Vietnam had four new investment projects totaling nearly 1.1 million U.S. dollars licensed abroad and saw one operational project raise capital by 200,000 U.S. dollars. The five Vietnamese-invested projects are located in Singapore, the United States, Finland, Japan and Myanmar, said the agency.