Executives of Japanese retail giant AEON Co. Ltd. highly evaluated the Vietnamese market’s potential and stressed the necessity to focus on the market during a board meeting in Ho Chi Minh City on August 30.

AEON shopping mall in HCM City

The meeting, the second of its kind held outside Japan following the first in Jakarta capital city of Indonesia last year, was to discuss the retailer’s development strategy in the coming time and its operations in Vietnam.

Director and Chairman of the Board of AEON Co. Hiroshi Yokoo said the strategy meeting was held in Vietnam as the country is the most significant market of the company in Southeast Asia.

While in Vietnam, leaders of the retail giant are scheduled to pay a visit to the AEON Mall Tan Phu Celadon in HCM City, which was expanded in June.

AEON Co. Ltd. will double the value of products it procures from Vietnam from the current level to 500 million USD in 2020, said Eiji Shibata, executive officer and chief merchandising and logistics officer of the Japanese retailer in June.

The figure is expected to increase to 1 billion USD in 2025 as the Southeast Asian nation seen as having great potential as a supplier of quality food for Japanese consumers.

AEON, based in Chiba to the east of Tokyo, inaugurated four malls in Vietnam. The company will open another mall in Hanoi.