South-South cooperation in human development:

Colombo Plan plays vital role

Sarath MALALASEKERA

The Colombo Plan has played an important role since its inception in strengthening the development process first as a scholarship provider and later as a catalyst for south-south cooperation in the area of human resource development, said Royal Thai Government Ambassador, Colombo Plan Council President Thinakorn Kanasuta at the Colombo Plan Focal Point Desk Officers meeting held at the Colombo Hilton yesterday.

Several Ambassadors, High Commissioners and representatives of twenty-member countries participated at the conference chaired by the Colombo Plan Secretary General Patricia Yoon Moi Chia.

Delivering the keynote address the Colombo Plan Council President said that every member country and every single staff member has a share in the organization's success and achievements.

Every member country and every single staff member are apart and mechanism in driving the organization forward. The Colombo Plan has succeeded in contributing to the progress of its member countries in the Asia and the Pacific through its many projects and programs.

Over the past 10 years, the Colombo Plan Secretariat has provided over 600 training courses/scholarships in various fields, including public administration and drug advisory program. The Colombo Plan Council President emphasised that more than 14,000 people from its member countries have benefited from various fields of programs which are aimed at the enhancement of skill and expertise of the trainees, thereby contributing constructively to the capacity building of its member states as well as their national development.

Needless to say, the past success and progress made by the Colombo Plan Secretariat could not have been made without the support and the collaboration of the focal points which have worked with the Colombo Plan for our common objectives.

Although most of the decisions of the Colombo Plan are made at the Council represented by head of missions of member countries in Colombo and long-term strategies are planned by the Consultative Committee which meets biennially.

It is the focal points in each member country which implement the decisions, either directly or through coordination with other government agencies in their countries, the Colombo Plan Council President added.

He said that on several administrative and financial matters, communication has to be done directly by the Colombo Plan Secretariat with the focal points in several member countries since not all member countries of the Colombo Plan have diplomatic representation in Colombo.