SHANGHAI, July 24  -- Shanghai received 9.2 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investment in the first half of 2014, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, the Shanghai municipal government said Thursday.

About half of new foreign-invested projects went to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Twelve multinational corporations (MNCs), including Volvo, Zegna and Danone, have set up their regional headquarters in the zone.

Shanghai retains its role as China's most MNC-concentrated city, home to 470 MNC regional headquarters and 375 MNC research centers.

In Pudong alone, MNC regional headquarters and subsidiaries generated more than 800 billion yuan (128 billion U.S. dollars) in revenues last year and paid more than 50 billion yuan in taxes.