HÀ NỘI — Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung had a working session on Monday with Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin from the Republic of Korea (RoK) on the group’s business results in 2018 and its plan to expand investment in the capital city.

According to Shin, Lotte has injected VNĐ40 trillion (US$1.7 billion) into its projects in Việt Nam and created around 20,000 jobs for local workers. In addition, the group has supported Việt Nam in training workers and in start-up projects. Some Lotte scholarships have been granted to excellent Vietnamese students since 2008, while Vietnamese start-ups have received assistance from the group since 2016.

Lotte is carrying out a number of large projects in Hà Nội, including the Lotte Mall in Tây Hồ District, he said, expressing his hope that they will be welcomed by local residents.

Lotte has huge potential to bolster investment in Việt Nam, especially in the hospitality sector. Shin described Hà Nội as a credible hospitality market, with the hotel reservation rate at Lotte Centre reaching 98 per cent and 100 per cent on December 3-4.

Hailing Lotte’s activities in Hà Nội, Chung said the corporation has made significant contributions to the city’s social welfare projects and created favourable conditions for Vietnamese agricultural products to hit the shelves of Lotte Mart stores in the RoK.

Briefing Shin on Hà Nội’s economic development, he said that this is the eighth consecutive year Hà Nội has recorded significant growth, with gross domestic product rising 8.56 per cent against the previous year.

The city is working to put forth administrative reforms to facilitate business of both domestic and foreign investors, including those from the RoK, he stressed, saying he hoped Lotte would continue expanding its business in the locality.

“Hà Nội stands ready to co-ordinate and remove bottlenecks for the firm to ensure its effective operation in the city,” Chung said. — VNS