HANOI, Oct 9, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Former US president Donald Trump's hotel group will develop a $1.5 billion luxury resort and golf course project in Vietnam, the local partner and state media said.

A memorandum of understanding for the deal was signed during a visit to the United States by Vietnam's top leader To Lam last month, developer Kinh Bac City said in a statement.

The Republican presidential candidate took time out from the campaign trail to witness the signing by his son Eric, images in state media showed.

Vietnam's official government newspaper Bao Chinh Phu said Wednesday the project was worth $1.5 billion and a staff member at Kinh Bac City, who declined to be named, confirmed the figure to AFP.

Trump entrusted the management of his real estate empire to his sons after taking office as president in 2017, although he held onto his shares in the Trump Organization. 

His foreign business dealings prompted critics to sound the alarm about possible conflicts of interest, including in a 2022 Congressional report that found the foreign governments of six countries spent more than $750,000 at a Trump-owned hotel in Washington while trying to influence his administration in 2017 and 2018. 

The golf complex will feature a 54-hole course and residential villas outside Hanoi, state media reported.

Trump visited the Vietnamese capital in 2019 for his abortive second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

At the time he described it as an "incredible city", adding: "What's happened over the last 25 years has been incredible for the people of Vietnam, the job they've done - economic development."

In a statement on the Trump Organization's website, Eric Trump said the firm was "incredibly excited to enter this dynamic market".

Kinh Bac City chairman Dang Thanh Tam added: "The Trump family sets the highest standards in hospitality."