SHANGHAI, Sept. 16 -- Shanghai inked 42 foreign investment projects on Monday with a total investment of 7.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Cargill, Minnesota-based provider of food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services, announced to increase 100 million U.S. dollars to expand its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai.

Robert Aspell, president of Asia Pacific for Cargill, said at the signing ceremony on Monday that China remains the country "where we have the greatest growth opportunity."

He praised the investment environment in Shanghai by saying that Cargill's diverse global portfolio of supply chain management requires "an open and transparent trade environment such as the one fostered here in Shanghai."

German company BASF announced to invest 32 million yuan to set up an international trading company in the Yangshan Free Trade Port Area of Shanghai Free Trade Zone, focusing on import and export, offshore trade and entrepot business.

"We will do our best to seize the great opportunities offered by the Yangshan Free Trade Port Area, which will enable BASF to better adapt to the highly dynamic Chinese market and further expand its trade with China," said Bradley Morrison, senior Vice President, Operations &Site Management Greater China, BASF.

The 42 foreign investment projects inked on Monday involved intelligent manufacturing, biomedicine, chemicals, integrated circuits, new energy, new materials, trade and finance.

Statistics from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce show that from January to August this year, the amount of new foreign investment projects increased by 47.8 percent year-on-year.

By the end of August, Shanghai has attracted an accumulated contractual foreign investment of more than 500 billion U.S. dollars, and half of which has been in place.

Shanghai is now home to 701 regional headquarters of multinational corporations and 451 foreign-funded research and development centers.