Colombo Plan to adopt flexibility

Rafik Jalaldeen

COLOMBO: The Colombo Plan is to adopt flexibility with the objective of adjusting to changing circumstances.

Comparing to other international organisations, the Colombo Plan does not need to possess either expensive training facilities or a big faculty of experts, Secretary General of Colombo Plan Patricia Yoon-Moi Chia said.

Chia said at a reception on Friday, she is the 20th Chairperson of the Colombo Plan and the second female to rise the helm as well as being first Asian female to hold the post.

She said the achievements of the CP was well documented “Being born out of historical circumstances in a post war Asia-Pacific region. The CP could be called the ‘Mother of all development aid agencies’. It has also evolved into a unique intergovernmental organisation that goes beyond the Commonwealth countries in providing development assistance under the ‘Planning for Prosperity’ motto,” Chia added.

From 1951 to 1991 around 300,000 young citizens from developing member-countries were trained under the umbrella of the long-term CP scholarship programme. Around 13,000 were trained in subsequent short and long-term training courses.