Cambodia attracted fixed-asset investment of $4.35 billion in 2021, according to a report from the Council for the Development of Cambodia on Thursday.

China remained the first largest foreign investor to the southeast Asian nation, accounting for 53.4 percent of the kingdom’s total investment last year, the report said.

It added that Cambodia received $2.32 billion from China last year, up 67 percent from $1.39 billion in the year before.

The United States and Singapore were the second and third biggest investors to the kingdom last year, with their investment amounting to $163 million and $121 million, respectively, the report showed.

Speaking of the surge in Chinese investment to Cambodia, Heng Sokkung, secretary of state and spokesman for the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, said the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership are the key factors encouraging more foreign investors, particularly the Chinese ones, to Cambodia.

“Also, the ironclad friendship and the bilateral cooperation under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative are the key driving force for growth in trade and investment between Cambodia and China,” he told Xinhua.