HO CHI MINH CITY, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Industrial parks and export processing zones in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City are expected to entice fresh foreign and domestic investment of 900 million U.S. dollars this year, up from 840 million U.S. dollars last year.

To this end, Ho Chi Minh City authorities in general and the Ho Chi Minh City Export Processing Zones and Industrial Parks Authority in particular will keep on simplifying administrative procedures related to investment, labor and construction, offering relevant assistance to firms in the parks and zones, and timely handle labor strikes in them, according to the municipal Department of Planning and Investment on Tuesday.

Industrial parks and export processing zones in the city attracted new investment of 840 million U.S. dollars, mainly in the fields of food processing, chemical, rubber, engineering, information technology and supporting industry, in 2017, up 68 percent against 2016.

By the end of last year, the parks and zones housed 1,495 domestic and foreign-invested projects with total capital of nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars.