Lhasa, the capital of west China's Tibet Autonomous Region, received US$455.5 million of overseas investment in the first seven months of 2008, up 33 percent year-on-year.

The majority of the investment, or 95.3 percent of the total, went into the industrial sector, which includes non-ferrous metal smelting, the manufacturing of machinery and chemical products, food processing and geological prospecting, according to figures from the city's statistics bureau on Monday.

Driven by tourism development, tertiary industry has become a new draw for investment in the city, which used US$15 million of overseas investment between January and July, nearly triple the year-earlier level.

Hong Kong remained the biggest investment source, followed by Japan and Germany, according to the bureau.

The region approved 19 foreign-funded projects last year with combined contractual investment of US$41.72 million.

The volume of foreign direct investment actually used was US$24.18 million in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2008)