The Colombo Plan Comes to Asia’s Succour

Commonwealth initiates regional programme

The Colombo Plan was mooted by the foreign ministers who met in Ceylon’s then capital in January 1950.

Originally titled ‘The Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia’ in 1951, it was renamed ‘The Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific’ in 1977, by which time the programme had also adopted a new constitution.

This change in nomenclature signified both the expanded composition of its enhanced membership and burgeoning scope of its activities, as well as regional reach.

In the relatively short span of 26 years, it had grown from a group of seven Commonwealth nations (viz. Australia, Britain, Canada, Ceylon, India, Pakistan and New Zealand) into an intergovernmental organisation  of 27 members including countries that had never been a constituent part of the former British Empire – on which the sun was setting.

And in fact, in recognition of this reality, it was Australia and not the United Kingdom that took the lead at the confab, as well as in the movement.

To underline this reality, one need only refer to historical documents referring to the formation of the Colombo Plan to see that the name of Australia’s Minister for External Affairs P. C. (later, Sir Percy) Spender headed the list of dignitaries who attended the foreign ministers’ meeting that birthed the programme, although the likes of Great Britain’s Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin were ranked high among the delegates.

Be that subtle geopolitical shift as it may, the Colombo Plan was initially instituted as a regional intergovernmental organisation for the development of economic and social spheres in the South Asian region’s member nations.

It was based on the concept of partnering for the sake of mutual and self-help in the region’s developmental activities, and had among its foci human resources development and ‘south-south cooperation.’

And while there were innumerable material benefits to be shared, exchanged and developed, a significant aspect of the Colombo Plan was its intention to utilise the available physical capital more effectively by means of raising people’s skill levels to provide a stronger lever for all-round growth.

The Colombo Plan was initially instituted as a regional intergovernmental organisation for the development of economic and social spheres in the South Asian region’s member nations