Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Phan Kieu Thu and President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena. (Source: Colombopage.com)The Colombo Plan for CooperativeEconomic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific was initiated by the UK at the CommonwealthConference on Foreign Affairs in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in January1950 and was launched on July 1, 1951 as a cooperativeventure for economic and social advancement of the peoples of South andSoutheast Asia.
The Colombo Plan aims to help its member countries promote socio-economicdevelopment, poverty reduction, environmental protection and gender equality.
With 27 official members, the plan is a forum for discussing development needs,sharing experience, implementing programmes for stronger socio-economic developmentand supporting less developed countries in the region.
Colombo Plan mainly operates through organising training courses, helping itsmember nations develop human resources. It now runs four training programmesincluding the Drug Advisory Programme (DAP), the Programme for Public Administration& Environment (PPA & ENV), the Programme for Private Sector Development(PPSD) and the Long-Term Scholarships Programme (LTSP).
Since its officialmembership of the organisation in 2003, Vietnam has sent nearly 400 officials toattend training courses within the Colombo Plan’s cooperation programmes, inthe fields of drug prevention, public administration, reproductive health, andenvironmental protection.-VNA
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