Vietnam’s ambassador elected Colombo Plan’s Secretary General

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The Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific was initiated by the UK at the Commonwealth Conference on Foreign Affairs in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in January 1950 and was launched on July 1, 1951 as a cooperative venture for the economic and social advancement of the peoples of South and Southeast Asia.

The Colombo Plan aims to help its member countries promote socio-economic development, poverty reduction, environmental protection and gender equality.

With 27 official members, the plan is a forum for discussing development needs, sharing experience, implementing programmes for stronger socio-economic development and supporting less developed countries in the region.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Phan Kieu Thu and President Maithripala Sirisena . (Photo: Nishanka de Silva)

Colombo Plan mainly operates through organising training courses, helping its member nations develop human resources. It now runs four training programmes including the Drug Advisory Programme (DAP), the Programme for Public Administration & Environment (PPA & ENV), the Programme for Private Sector Development (PPSD) and the Long-Term Scholarships Programme (LTSP).

Since its official membership of the organisation in 2003, Vietnam has sent nearly 400 officials to attend training courses within the Colombo Plan’s cooperation programmes, in the fields of drug prevention, public administration, reproductive health, and environmental protection.

Workshop seeks measures to promote gender responsive budgeting The UN Women in Vietnam and the Asia Development Bank in Vietnam held a workshop on December 6 on promoting gender responsive budgeting in Vietnam.

Japan and Viet Nam: Working together for regional sustainable and inclusive development On the occasion of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting to be held from November 10th - 11th, I am delighted to be visiting Viet Nam ...

Vietnam, Sri Lanka to facilitate bilateral business activities Vietnam and Sri Lanka will provide favourable conditions for their enterprises to seek business and investment opportunities, senior diplomats have said.