As a project commissioned by JICA, GRIPS conducted training for senior officials at the level of Vice Minister and Director General of the Lao People's Democratic Republic for 5 days from December 11 to 15, 2023. The training was resumed in 2023 at the request of the Party Central Committee Organization Board of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and was held for the second time since March this year. 16 people, led by H.E. Mr. Lanh Sengaphone, Vice Minister of Public Works and Transport, participated in the training.

On the first day of the training, the Ambassador of Lao P.D.R. H.E. Ms. Phongsamouth Anlavan, a GRIPS graduate, attended the welcome reception. It was a great opportunity to reaffirm the friendship between Japan and Laos.

During the training, GRIPS professors delivered lectures and participants learned a wide range of Japanese politics and public administration, local governance, administrative reform, public service personnel system, economic policy, and infrastructure policy. In each lecture, professors explained social issues and government responses from modernization to the present day, issues facing Japan today, and future social prospects, and provided many tips for thinking about the future of Laos. Participants actively asked questions throughout the lecture, and there were lively exchanges of ideas.

They also visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, a disaster prevention facility in Kasukabe City, Saitama Prefecture, and the Shinagawa development project site, which is being promoted by JR East. ?They gained a deep understanding of infrastructure development in Japan.

On the final day, each participant expressed the knowledge gained from the training and their aspirations for the future, and the training ended.