Ecuador sees $5 bln investment from China this yr-minister

* Resource hungry China is biggest investor in Ecuador

* Other investors slow to return in wake of 2008 default

TOKYO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China is ramping up its investment in Ecuador as it looks for opportunities in the South American nation, with bilateral deals this year totalling more than $5 billion, an Ecuadorean minister said on Tuesday.

Other investors have been slow to return to Ecuador in the wake of a $3.2 billion global bond default in 2008, and Nathalie Cely, the Andean nation's Minister of Coordination of Employment and Competition, said China is by far the biggest investor in the state this year.

Ecuador, the smallest OPEC country, in August signed a $1 billion loan deal with resource hungry China for oil and infrastructure projects. [ID:nN31248765].

In June, it said it had got a credit of $1.7 billion from the Export-Import Bank of China to partially finance the construction of a hydropower dam. [ID:nN03234496]

The more than $5 billion figure would mark a huge increase from 2009, when China's direct investment into Ecuador totalled just $56 million, according to data from Ecuador's central bank.

Cely, speaking at an event in Tokyo, is in Asia with Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, to promote the country as an investment destination. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Joseph Radford)