Lotte Group Chair Shin Dong-bin met with political and business leaders during this week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, to discuss cooperation across the group’s core businesses and new growth engines.
According to the group on Friday, Shin met with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong on Thursday to explore new avenues of cooperation in Lotte’s expanding operations in Vietnam, where the company has made substantial investments.
“Lotte has invested more than 40 trillion Vietnamese dong ($1.52 billion) across sectors including retail and food,” Shin said during the meeting. “We will continue to expand investment and job creation efforts to deepen the trust we’ve built with Vietnam.”
Responding to Shin, Cuong said the Vietnamese government would consider Lotte’s proposals.
Having entering Vietnam in the 1990s through its restaurant business, Lotte has since expanded into retail and hospitality, exemplified by Lotte Mall West Lake Hanoi, a major commercial complex in the capital that opened in September 2023.
On the same day, Shin met with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to discuss cooperation in the retail sector, and on Wednesday he held talks with Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman on applying artificial intelligence and customer data analytics to Lotte’s retail operations.
“We aim to enhance global competitiveness across key sectors from AI and bio to retail to build a stronger foundation for sustainable growth,” a company official said, adding that Shin would continue holding meetings throughout the remainder of the summit week.
minmin@heraldcorp.com
