Editing Colombo Plan (section)

{{Short description|Economic and social development IGO (est 1951)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2018}}
{{for|the modern initiative|New Colombo Plan}}
{{Infobox Geopolitical organisation
| linking_name           = The Colombo Plan
| image_flag             = The Colombo Plan Flag.png
| flag_caption           = Flag of the Colombo Plan
| image_map              = Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific.png
| map_caption            = Current (blue) and former (yellow) members of the Colombo Plan.
| org_type               = Economic forum
| membership_type        = Member countries
| membership             = {{collapsible list
  |titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
  |title = Current (29)
  |{{flagcountry|Afghanistan|2013}} |{{flagcountry|Australia}} |{{flagcountry|Bangladesh}}
  |{{flagcountry|Bhutan}} |{{flagcountry|Brunei}} |{{flagcountry|Chile}} |{{flagcountry|Fiji}}
  |{{flagcountry|India}} |{{flagcountry|Indonesia}} |{{flagcountry|Iran}}
  |{{flagcountry|Japan}} |{{flagcountry|Laos}} |{{flagcountry|Malaysia}}
  |{{flagcountry|Maldives}} |{{flagcountry|Mongolia}} |{{flagcountry|Myanmar}} |
  {{flagcountry|Nepal}} |{{flagcountry|New Zealand}} |{{flagcountry|Pakistan}}
  |{{flagcountry|Papua New Guinea}}
  |{{flagcountry|Philippines}}|{{flagcountry|Rwanda}} |{{flagcountry|Saudi Arabia}} |{{flagcountry|Singapore}}
  |{{flagcountry|South Korea}} |{{flagcountry|Sri Lanka}} |{{flagcountry|Thailand}}
  |{{flagcountry|United States}} |{{flagcountry|Vietnam}} |<hr/>
 }}
 {{collapsible list
  |titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
  |title = Former (4)
  |{{flagcountry|Cambodia}} |{{flagcountry|Canada}} |{{flagcountry|South Vietnam}}
  |{{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}
 }}
| admin_center_type      = Headquarters
| admin_center           = {{nowrap|{{flagicon|Sri Lanka}} [[Colombo]], [[Sri Lanka]]}}
| languages_type         = [[Official language]]s
| languages              = [[English language|English]]
| leader_title1          = Secretary-General
| leader_name1           = {{nowrap|{{flagicon|Philippines}} [[Benjamin P. Reyes]]}}
| established_event1     = Establishment<sup>a</sup>
| established_date1      = 28 November 1950
| established_event2     = Commencement
| established_date2      = 1 July 1951
| official_website       = http://www.colombo-plan.org/
| footnote_a             = As the "Colombo Plan for Co-operative Economic Development in South and South-East Asia".
| demonym                = 
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
| today                  = 
| conventional_long_name = Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic and Social Development in Asia and the Pacific
}}
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]].<ref>Lowe, 2010</ref><ref>Auletta, 2000.</ref>