Yantai's Huang-Bohai New Area in East China's Shandong province saw foreign direct investment surged from January to June with a 37 percent increase year-on-year, amounting to $515 million, according to official statistics released by the area.

The area's manufacturing sector received $220 million in foreign direct investment during the six-month period, rising 24 percent year-on-year and accounted for 42 percent of its total use of foreign capital. 

Foreign investment from Japan and South Korea hit $150 million, accounting for 29 percent of its total volume, while that from Europe and the United States reached $19.68 million, which was 3.8 percent of its total use of foreign capital. 

Despite facing challenges and uncertainties from the COVID-19 pandemic and a more complicated international environment, Huang-Bohai New Area continues to create innovative new measures to attract investment, and further deeepen economic and trade cooperation with Japan and South Korea.

Efforts have also been made to attract investment in Yantai's 16 key industrial chains, such as the industrial internet, photoelectric sensing, consumer electronics, and modern logistics to reinforce and upgrade weak links in the industrial chains of key industries.

Thanks to the local government's continuous efforts, a number of key industrial projects were established in the Huang-Bohai New Area, including an innovation and R&D base for digital economy, Yantai Photoelectric Sensing Industrial Park, and a biomedical industrialization base.

Since this year, the area has actively taken part in nearly 40 online and offline investment promotion activities, and a total of 26 key projects have been signed, bringing in a total investment of 23 billion yuan ($3.35 billion).