Receiving the delegation were General Director of Aeon Holding's Southeast Asia Group Okazaki; President of AeonMall Japan Company Iwamura and senior leaders of Aeon. Also attending were leaders of Newland Investment Joint Stock Company; Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu; Hoang Tuan Anh, Chairman of the Bac Giang Fellows Association in Japan.

Attending the meeting were Nguyen Viet Oanh, Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Division; Nghiem Xuan Huong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Phan The Tuan, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and representative leaders of a number of departments, sectors and businesses.

Here, Mr. Iwamura thanked the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and the delegation of Bac Giang province for taking the time to visit and work at Aeon's headquarters. At the same time, he was excited to know that Bac Giang was urgently arranging land fund for AeonMall to implement the Aeon center construction project.

Provincial Party Secretary Duong Van Thai expressed his joy when meeting Chairman Iwamura again at the headquarters of Aeon Group in Japan. Bac Giang province leaders highly appreciated the Group's potential.

Immediately after signing the Memorandum of Understanding, Bac Giang focused on quickly implementing procedures, striving to start construction on the project by July 2024. The province hoped that when space was available, AeonMall would immediately deploy the construction of the trade center on schedule. Bac Giang would establish a working group to focus on resolving all related procedures to promote the project's implementation as quickly as possible.

The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee also briefly introduced Bac Giang province with its favorable geographical location, an important growth pole of the region. In recent years, economic growth had always been among the top in the country. In 2023, the growth rate reached 13.45%, ranking first in the country. Notably, Bac Giang planned to have 29 industrial zones by 2030 with the need for 1 million workers. There was currently about 10 thousand foreign experts working in the province. This means Bac Giang would be a very large consumer market. Along with industrial development, the province also focused on agricultural development with famous fruit growing areas, notably lychee with the largest output in the country.

It was known that General Director of Aeon Holding's Southeast Asia Okazaki Group was very interested in Vietnamese lychees and had decided to bring this product into the Aeon supermarket system. Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee hoped that when the Aeon trade center in Bac Giang coming into operation would help Bac Giang's lychees have more opportunities to reach the Japanese people more widely.

Besides, Bac Giang also focuseđ on developing tourism, services, and logistics, striving to be a place for entertainment and relaxation for people in big cities; not only a place to make money but also a place to spend money for people.

In addition, Bac Giang also strived to have a dry port to serve import and export; upgrade and develop the railway system, connecting to the Ha Long - Quang Ninh sea route, promoting the development of traffic connecting with Noi Bai airport. Bac Giang strived to become a goods circulation center and regional shopping center.

The Provincial Party Secretary added that according to statistics, GO Supermarket! (in Bac Giang City) was experiencing very rapid revenue growth each year. This showed the great purchasing power of the Bac Giang market. Therefore, AeonMall's decision to invest in Bac Giang was very correct.

Speaking here, Ambassador Pham Quang Hieu said that Aeon was one of the few Japanese businesses being very welcomed in Vietnamese localities. The Vietnamese Embassy in Japan pledged to continue promoting Aeon's investment activities in Bac Giang. The Ambassador hoped that Aeon's investment would be successful and that more Vietnamese goods would enter Aeon supermarkets and reach the Japanese people.

Lychee was not only the pride of Bac Giang province but also a very unique fruit. He hoped that AeonMall could introduce companies with processing and preservation technology to help bring fresh and delicious lychees to the Japanese people.

The ambassador also said that AeonMall had a business philosophy: Not just investing but also thriving. The Ambassador hoped that AeonMall would not only do business but also participate in more social responsibility sharing activities with local governments as it had been doing, expand charitable activities aimed at poor and disabled children, etc. The Ambassador invited Aeon Group leaders to have the opportunity to visit the Embassy to strengthen the relationship.

Chairman Iwamura hoped that after this meeting and working session, Bac Giang would see that approving AeonMall's investment was correct. AeonMall had decided to invest capital and hoped to start construction and open the shopping center as soon as possible.

Regarding the landscape architecture of the mall, Chairman of AeonMall said he always reminded his subordinates to pay special attention when designing and building. When surveying to choose a location to build a facility in Bac Giang, AeonMall paid attention to the unique characteristics of this area. It was located near the river and near the entertainment district. Therefore, they would focus on building in harmony with the surrounding landscape so that people could go there not only to shop but also relax and entertain. This was also a place for families to have moments of rest together.

Also at the meeting, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Newland Investment Joint Stock Company Nguyen Cong Ha said that he was very happy to attend the meeting between Bac Giang province and AeonMall leaders. He thanked AeonMall for choose Newland as a partner. Newland would actively coordinate with departments and sectors of Bac Giang province to urgently implement procedures, start project construction soon, and strive to reach the finish line early compared to the original goal.