The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), reports that China overtook the United States in attracting foreign investment last year.

The Paris-headquartered OECD adds that the US invested more abroad than it had attracted from foreign companies for the second consecutive year.

France remained a top location in Europe for foreign direct investment and also attracted more funds last year than the US.

Overall, the OECD calculates that FDI from the rest of the world in its 30 industrialized member countries fell sharply, but OECD investment elsewhere rose.

(CRI.com June 29, 2004)