In response to the request from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore, GRIPS conducted a Singapore-Japan Trade Ministry Exchange Program on leadership between September 1 and September 5, 2014. Thirteen mid-career officials from both countries took part in the program, the first part of which was held in January 2014 at the Civil Service College (CSC) of Singapore.

During the program, participants attended lectures given by the program director Masahiro Horie, Senior Professor and Director of the Executive Development Center for Global Leadership, as well as by Advisor for Human Resource Development at Tokyo SME University Mr. Shohei Kaihori and senior officials from METI. They learned about Japanese government and economy, SME policies and regional economic policies, trade policies and energy policies.

The participants had an opportunity to visit METI and companies and facilities related to the contents of the training program including Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, Cyberdyne, the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and a Honda automobile factory.

The participants completed the training program by writing and presenting policy papers on the following topics: SME Policy and Asian Economic Development, Japan-Singapore Energy Development and Areas of Collaboration, and Industry Policy – A Proposal for a Joint R&D and Standardization Framework Between Japan and Singapore. After that, they had a closing meeting with Ms. Naoko Munakata, Director-General of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Bureau, METI.