GRIPS conducted a Training Program for Leaders of Quang Ninh Province for 9 days, from November 5 to 13, 2013. The program was held at the request of the Office of the Quang Ninh Province of Vietnam. GRIPS welcomed 25 senior provincial officials.

During the program, participants attended lectures given by the Program Director Kiyotaka Yokomichi (Vice President of GRIPS) as well as other GRIPS faculty members including Senior Prof. Masahiro Horie (Director of Executive Development Center for Global Leadership), Prof. Hirofumi Takada, and Prof. Hiroshi Ikawa. In addition, lectures and seminars were given by Mr. Naoki Fukushima (Deputy Director General of Regional Revitalization Bureau, Cabinet Secretariat), Mr. Makoto Kitta and Mr. Hiroshi Kadobayashi (City of Yokohama), and Prof. Shunsuke Kimura (Hitotsubashi University). The participants learned about a wide range of issues relating to local government in Japan, including the local civil service system, the relationship between central and local governments, the special zone system, local development policies, and public participation.

In Tokyo, the participants had an opportunity to visit the Imperial Palace and the Asakusa area, as well as the Life Safety Learning Center in Ikebukuro where they watched a video on earthquakes, tsunami and disaster preparedness drills in Japan and also experienced realistic seismic shakes in the Earthquake Simulation Room.

The delegation also took a field trip to Shizuoka where the participants were given briefings on the economic policy and the tourism promotion policy at the prefectural government and practices in citizen participation at the city hall, respectively. The participants also visited the Earthquake Preparedness Education Center and the Port of Shimizu.

On the last day of the training program, they had a wrap-up session presided over by Prof. Yokomichi, Prof. Horie, and Prof. Takada. At the completion ceremony, each participant received a certificate of completion of the course.