Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, accompanied by executives from the company's Korean and Japanese subsidiaries, visited Ghana to promote sustainable cacao sourcing for their chocolate products. This visit was part of the Sustainable Cocoa Bean Project, a collaborative effort between Lotte's branches aimed at addressing concerns over the impact of recent heat waves and crop diseases on cocoa production in Ghana. Notably, this year marks significant anniversaries for Ghana Chocolate, Lotte's flagship product in Korea and Japan. The initiative includes improving farming practices, offering advanced agricultural techniques, and providing essential resources like cacao seedlings and fertilizers in collaboration with local partners. Additionally, both branches of Lotte plan to form contracts with local cacao farms to jointly purchase beans, with savings being reinvested into monitoring systems for child labor and agricultural training programs. Lotte also donated 130,000 cacao seedlings to the Ghana Cocoa Board and will send a volunteer group to donate upcycled educational materials to local children. During his visit, Shin expressed gratitude to Ghana's stakeholders for their contributions to high-quality cacao production and met with Wamkele Mene, the secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, to discuss expanding Lotte's operations in Africa.