The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Colombo Plan

(Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia), a plan affecting South and Southeast Asia. Initiated by the British government to strengthen its influence in the area after its position had been undermined as a result of World War II. At the same time the plan was intended to weaken the national liberation movement in that part of Asia.

The Colombo Plan was first discussed at a conference of the British Commonwealth in Colombo, Ceylon, in January 1950. The conference set up the Consultative Committee, which included representatives of Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Ceylon, and the former English colonies of Malaya and North Borneo. At its first session (Sydney, Australia; May 1950), the member nations of the committee agreed to work out six-year economic development programs, to start on July 1, 1951. At the London session of the Consultative Committee in September 1950, these programs were approved under the overall name of the Colombo Plan. In 1955 the members extended the plan until July 1, 1961, and they have subsequently continued to renew it. By the start of 1975, 27 nations were members of the Colombo Plan, including six creditor nations (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States) and 21 recipient nations.

Under the Colombo Plan, individual development programs were implemented basically under the control of Great Britain and the United States. An important part of the programs consisted of military strategic projects (such as airfields and roads). Because the plan was designed to strengthen the position of the imperialist states, it did not resolve any essential problems confronting the young Asian nations, whose peoples were striving to achieve an independent course of economic and social development. The supreme body implementing the Colombo Plan is the Consultative Committee. The Council for Technical Cooperation, located in Colombo, is responsible to the committee; the executive body of the council is the bureau.

D. ASANOV

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

Australia's High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu said that the New Colombo Plan was a practical example of Australia's commitment to learning from its neighbours in the region.

Australia announces scholarships under New Colombo Plan 2019 India

While talking about working and objectives of the DAP, Mohammad Ayub said the Programme was providing support to various preventive initiatives being undertaken toward drug demand reduction, and provision of standardised addiction treatment and rehabilitation facilities in Pakistan and Afghanistan under the Colombo Plan.

Cooperation pledged to improve care system at addiction treatment centres

The New Colombo Plan is an Australian government initiative aimed at broadening knowledge of Indo-Pacific students by supporting Australian undergraduates to study and undertake internships in the region, including the Philippines.

Australian Embassy welcomes New Colombo Plan scholars

The New Colombo Plan is an initiative of Australian Government to lift knowledge of Australian students about the Indo-Pacific region including India by studying and undertaking internships in these countries.

GADVASU vet specially invited by Australian prime minister

Those who were educated in New Zealand under the Colombo Plan are of a certain (and older) generation.

Students, soldiers, sports, sheep and the silver-screen: New Zealand's soft power in ASEAN and Southeast Asia

In 1956, she was selected under Colombo Plan for her Masters in Physiology at the University of Edinburgh.

FJMC honours Prof. Rose Madan by renaming the Dept. of Medical Education and instituting a Medal

They look at the region in general from such perspectives as the response of the Colombo Plan Staff College for Technical Education (which organized the anthology), training teachers and trainers, and inclusive development.

Emerging challenges and trends in TVET in the Asia-Pacific region

During the 16 months between December 1949 and April 1951, when Spender was the first Minister for External Affairs in the post-war Coalition government led by Robert Menzies, he was a central figure in negotiating both the ANZUS Treaty and the Colombo Plan, foundation stones of the alliance and Asian engagement respectively.

David Lowe, Australian between Empires: The Life of Percy Spender, Pickering & Chatto

" Even 7.2 per cent growth is not discouraging in the context of the subdued economic environment globally," Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a meeting on the Colombo Plan -- a group of nations come together for economic and social improvement in South and South- East Asia.

FM sees over 7.2% growth this fiscal

(3) At the regional level, the Commonwealth nations formed a consultative committee, which in 1950 produced The Colombo Plan (CP), the well-known document for South and Southeast Asian nations.

Treatises of development: the context of developmentalism in Bangladesh

Lewis); "Assessment and Recognition of Learning and Training--Approaches in the European Union" (Anders Nilsson); "Financing Mechanisms for VET" (Gregory Wurzburg); and "TVET Institution-Industry Partnership: The Colombo Plan Region" (Shyamal Majumdar).

VET through One's Lifetime: New Approaches and Implementation. Proceedings of the KRIVET International Conference on VET (2nd, Seoul, Korea, October 15-16, 2002)