It is scheduled to open by 2020, AEON executive director and general director of AEON Mall Vietnam Yasutsugu Iwamura told Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at a meeting in Hanoi last week.

Phuc expressed support for the construction of the mall, and instructed local authorities to facilitate it by adjusting land plans if required.

Yasutsugu said there are plans to build 20 malls by 2025. AEON already has four in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and the southern province of Binh Duong, and two others are under construction in Hanoi and the northerrn city of Hai Phong.

The firm's first Hanoi mall is in Long Bien District, east of the city, while its under-construction outlet, the second, is in Ha Dong District, southwest of Hanoi.

Yasutsugu said the retailer hopes to have a strategic partnership with Vietnam, increasing exports of its agricultural products to Japan for sale through its system.

It plans to double imports from Vietnam to $500 million next year with Vietnam likely to become a high-quality supplier of food to Japanese consumers, and double again to $1 billion by 2025, he said. Last year AEON's imports were worth $245 million, with clothing accounting for 55 percent.