KATHMANDU, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- China pledged the highest foreign direct investment (FDI) to Nepal three years in a row as the Himalayan country received China's pledge of 427 million U.S. dollars in last fiscal year 2017-18 that concluded in mid-July, Nepal's Department of Industry (DoI) said on Tuesday.

FDI commitments from China stands at 84 percent of the total FDI pledges Nepal received in the last fiscal 2017-18 which stands at 505 million U.S. dollars.

China topped the chart in committing FDI to Nepal in fiscal years of 2016-17 and 2015-16 too with a commitment of 76 million U.S. dollars and 57 million U.S. dollars respectively, according to the DoI.

In the last fiscal, India came second with FDI pledge of 46 million U.S. dollars followed by the United States with nine million U.S dollars, according to the DoI.

Ma Yong, a Chinese lawyer working in Nepal representing Shanghai-based Landing Law Offices told Xinhua last week that the friendly relations between Nepal and China, a peaceful environment, and business opportunities are driving Chinese investment to Nepal.

"Nepal's laws are also generally business friendly but there are some room to improve to accelerate the approval process," he said.

Not only the Chinese investment, overall foreign investment pledged to Nepal in the last fiscal year 2017-18 multiplied by nearly four times compared to the previous fiscal year.

Information Officer at the DoI Durga Prasad Bhusal told Xinhua on Tuesday that Nepal's march towards political stability with the three-tier elections -- local, provincial and federal in 2017 and the legal reforms initiated in the past few years might have contributed to the rise in FDI pledges in the last fiscal year.

The FDI pledge largely went to energy, manufacture and tourism sectors, according to the DoI.