Colombo Plan
The Colombo Plan is a regional organization that embodies the concept of collective inter-governmental effort to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific Region. The primary focus of all Colombo Plan activities is on human resources development.
The organization was born out of a Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Ministers, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), in January 1950. At this meeting, a Consultative Committee was established to provide a framework within which international cooperation efforts could be promoted to raise the living standards of people in the region. Originally conceived as lasting for a period of six years, the Colombo Plan was extended several times until 1980, when it was extended indefinitely.
The "Plan" is not meant to be an integrated master plan to which national plans were expected to conform. It is, instead, a framework for bi-lateral arrangements involving foreign aid and technical assistance for the economic and social development of the region.
The principal organs of the Colombo Plan are - the Consultative Committee, the Council and the Secretariat. Administrative costs of the Council and Secretariat are borne equally by the 25 member countries.
Present members
- Afghanistan
- Australia
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Fiji Islands
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Japan
- Republic of Korea
- Laos
- Malaysia
- The Maldives
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- New Zealand
- Pakistan
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- United States
- Socialist Republic of Vietnam
External links
- Colombo Plan
- Daniel Oakman, Facing Asia: A History of the Colombo Plan, Pandanus Books, Canberra, 2004.
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