In response to the request from the Central Committee of Organization and Personnel (CCOP) of the Communist Party of Vietnam, GRIPS conducted a ten-day training program for vice-ministerial level officials of the Vietnamese government from October 17 to October 26, 2016. In this fifth time of the program, GRIPS welcomed 17 vice-minister level officials selected by the Monitoring Office of Program 165.

During the program, participants attended lectures given by the program director, Senior Prof. Masahiro Horie (Director of Executive Development Center for Global Leadership) as well as faculty members of GRIPS including President Prof. Takashi Shiraishi, Vice-President Prof. Tetsushi Sonobe, Academic Fellow Prof. Shigeru Morichi, Prof.Toshihiro Kudo, Prof.Hideshi Tokuchi (Senior Fellow, GRIPS Alliance) and Prof.Tran Van To of Waseda University.

The participants learned a wide range of subjects related to leadership and sustainable development, including the strategic relationship between Japan-Vietnam, modernization and development strategy, policy on transportation, Japan’s national security, government and public administration, policy making, implementation and evaluation, administrative reforms, civil service system and personnel management, and leadership. Vietnamese participants were active to ask questions and discuss with professors.

Besides the lectures, with the support of other parties, we’ve organized several site visits and meetings in Tokyo and Hokuriku area.

In Tokyo, participants visited the Keidanren to have a dialogue with executives of Japanese private sectors, including the chairman and members of the Keidanren Japanese-Vietnam Economic Committee. Members of the Vietnamese delegation delivered a briefing on political and government systems and current economic situation in Vietnam.

They also visited redevelopment construction site near Shibuya station after attending the lecture of Prof. Morichi. Participants could learn the management of the big project where private and public sectors were cooperated. They were impressed by the safety management of the construction project which is highly evaluated in Vietnam.  

The delegation took two-day field trip to Fukui, Kanazawa and Toyama (Hokuriku Area) by Shinkanasen. In Hokuriku area, with the cooperation of the Regional Economic Research Institute of Fukui Prefectural University and AJEC (Around Japan sea Economic exchange Conference), the delegation visited facilities of three Japanese companies (Seiren, Tsudakoma and YKK). The Networking Event with business leaders was held in Kanazawa city and the members of the delegation gave presentations on industrial and FDI policy of Vietnam as well as the situation of Vietnamese private sector.

Through exchanging opinions with many Japanese people, participants seemed to have learnt the possibilities of cooperation between Vietnam and Japan.

On the final day of the training program, they reviewed the intensive ten-day program and returned home with their certificates of completion of the course.