PHNOM PENH, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) — Cambodia approved investment projects worth 4.64 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, an 18 percent rise from a year earlier, according to the report of the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) released on Tuesday.

The figure for 2014 stood at 3.93 billion U.S. dollars, the report said.

Domestic investors topped the chart among all investors in the Southeast Asian country last year with a promised investment of 3. 2 billion U.S. dollars, followed by China with 864 million U.S. dollars and the United Kingdom with 139 million U.S. dollars, it said.

CDC's deputy secretary general Chea Vuthy said some 41 percent of the last year's investment was focused on infrastructure, 35 percent on industries, 14 percent on agriculture, and 10 percent on tourism.

"The growth clearly shows the country's attractiveness to both local and foreign investors," he said at an investment promotion forum here.

To date, Cambodia has signed bilateral agreements on the promotion and protection of investment with 28 countries, which are a key factor to build confidence among investors, he said.

The official is optimistic that the investment will continue to grow in coming years thanks to the recent realization of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which has transformed the ten-country ASEAN into a single market for some 630 million consumers.