Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific | |
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Flag of the Colombo Plan | |
![]() Current (blue) and former (yellow) members of the Colombo Plan. | |
Headquarters | ![]() |
Official languages | English |
Type | Economic forum |
Member countries | Current (29) Former (4) |
Leaders | |
• Secretary-General | ![]() |
Establishment | |
• Establishmenta | 28 November 1950 |
• Commencement | 1 July 1951 |
Website http://www.colombo-plan.org/ | |
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The Colombo Plan is a regional intergovernmental organization that began operations on 1 July 1951. The organization was conceived at an international conference, The Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs held in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in January 1950, and was attended by the finance ministers of Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ceylon, Pakistan and New Zealand, and the prime ministers of Ceylon and India. Membership has expanded significantly over the years to the current 28 governments.
The primary focus of its work is on the development of human resources in the south and southeast regions of Asia. Aid to education 1950 to 1983 came to $72 billion, of which $41 billion came from the United States.[1][2]