Colombo plan

This article covers the Colombo Conference in 1950. For the conference of the same name in 1962, see Colombo Conference .

Colombo Plan Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific
Planning prosperity together
dark blue: current members, yellow: former members
Organization type	Economic forum
Seat of the organs	Colombo , Sri Lanka
Secretary General	Ambassador Phan Kieu Thu, PhD
Official and working languages	English
founding	November 28, 1950
www.colombo-plan.org

The Colombo Plan was adopted in 1950 at a conference of the Foreign Ministers of the Commonwealth countries in Colombo ( Sri Lanka , then Ceylon ). The standard of living, especially the food conditions, in the countries of South and Southeast Asia is to be raised through large-scale investments. The beneficiary countries (Sri Lanka, India , Pakistan , Malaysia and Singapore ) receive capital aid and technical assistance from other member countries, notably Australia , Canada (until 1992), New Zealand , Japan , Great Britain (until 1991) and the USA (the majority of the money).

history

The Colombo Plan was drafted as an idea at a Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Ministers in Sri Lanka in January 1950. At the meeting, the idea of ​​a plan was launched to improve living conditions in South Asia through international cooperation. Originally the plan was designed for six years. The founding members were all members of the Commonwealth - Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand and Pakistan - until the plan evolved into an international organization, now with 25 members. In 1977 a new constitution was passed and the name of the organization was changed to "The Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific" to reflect the expansion of its tasks. In the earlier years, the Colombo Plan was responsible for coordinating the exchange of money and technology. In addition to the purely technical expansion of roads, hospitals, cement factories, universities and other infrastructural measures, money was also invested in the training of people who are supposed to maintain this infrastructure.

Current members

There are currently 25 members in the Colombo Plan, including non-Commonwealth countries, as well as members of regional associations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation .

member	Year of joining
Afghanistan	1963
Australia	1950
Bangladesh	1972
Bhutan	1962
Brunei	2008
Fiji	1972
India	1950
Indonesia	1953
Iran	1966
Japan	1954
South Korea	1962
Laos	1951
Malaysia	1957
Maldives	1963
Mongolia	2004
Myanmar	1952
Nepal	1952
New Zealand	1950
Pakistan	1950
Papua New Guinea	1973
Philippines	1954
Singapore	1966
Sri Lanka	1950
Thailand	1954
United States	1951
Vietnam	2004

former members

Four member countries are no longer included in the Colombo Plan, including the two founding members in 1950, Canada and the United Kingdom. After unification with the north, South Vietnam became the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which withdrew in 1978. From 2001 to 2003, however, Vietnam was re-admitted to the list of observers and was accepted as a new member in 2004.

member	Year of joining	Exit year
Canada	1950	1992
United Kingdom	1950	1991
Cambodia	1951	2004
South Vietnam	1951	1975

See also

• Bandung Conference

literature

• Christoph Ellßel: The educational empire: On the history of the American-Australian scholarship program in the Colombo plan 1949-1960. Transcript, Bielefeld 2017. ISBN 978-3-8376-4127-1 .
• Daniel Oakman: Facing Asia. A History of the Colombo Plan . ANU E Press, Canberra 2010, ISBN 978-1-921666-92-6 .

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The educational empire | America: Culture - History - Politics | Cultural studies | Cultural studies. transcript Verlag, accessed on October 26, 2017 .