• Post-WWII priorities of rebuilding and developing war-ravaged Asia-Pacific shifts to wider scope
• Latest focus areas are maritime administration development, while drug advisory/prevention and specialist skill development projects endure
• Colombo Plan helping SLPA upskill and gain competencies

The Colombo Plan, one of the oldest inter-governmental organisations and the only one to be named after a Sri Lankan city, is today continuing to support the island nation with capacity building in maritime administration, gender affairs, environment and climate change, and countering narcotics abuse. 

The multinational body, of which Sri Lanka was a founding member in 1951, is today celebrating 73 years of steadfast commitment to impactful endeavours operating on the partnership concept of self-help and mutual help to enhance human capital development and South-South cooperation.

The organisation, which has grown in membership to 28 today, implements capacity-building programmes in over 80 countries and stands as a testament to the power of cooperation and collective action in driving sustainable development.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Morning, The Colombo Plan Secretary-General Dr. Benjamin P. Reyes outlined the work The Colombo Plan carries out and how it supports Sri Lanka.

Following are excerpts from the interview:

The Colombo Plan has reached 73 years of service. Can you explain what it is and how the organisation has fared in achieving its key objectives of economic and social development of Asia and the Pacific?

The Colombo Plan was established as the ‘Marshall Plan’ counterpart for the Asia Pacific in July 1951 with seven Commonwealth countries as members. Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was one of them. In the aftermath of World War II (WWII), Europe was completely devastated. 

The Allied nations created the ‘Marshall Plan’ for Europe and similarly there was much devastation in the Asia Pacific, so The Colombo Plan was the Marshall Plan counterpart for these regions. We are one of the earliest inter-governmental organisations. 

Back then, we were into rebuilding and providing infrastructure projects. In Sri Lanka, the railway system development was funded by Canada through The Colombo Plan, as was the Bandaranaike International Airport and several key hospitals around the island. Road infrastructure, like The Colombo Plan Road, was done by Colombo Plan. 

We have helped rebuild and develop many countries in the Asia Pacific. As an example, my country the Philippines also benefited from the projects carried out by The Colombo Plan. Then (1950–1960s) The Colombo Plan was huge; we managed a project portfolio which ran into $ 46 billion over a period of time.

We were doing infrastructure development and social development, and we were looking at how to grow the economies of the countries devastated by the war. In the 1960s and ’70s, many members decided to continue with The Colombo Plan but shifted priorities. In the 1970s we designed and implemented a drug advisory programme and a gender affairs programme, and now we also have environment and climate change-related projects. 

Now, most of our activities are related to capacity building. The latest addition to our portfolio is the maritime administration project, which commenced in May 2022.

We are also planning to establish a biodiversity sustainability project with support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Centre for Biodiversity, hopefully by next year. This one is funded by my country, the Philippines.

Today, The Colombo Plan provides a large portfolio capacity-building programme that is available and followed by members and also non-member countries. Our projects are now being implemented in over 80 countries today (currently our membership is 27 countries). We have many activities in Africa, even though we have no members in the African continent. I must credit the US State Department, which is currently our main donor.  

What are the key challenges you face in promoting technical cooperation and getting developed countries to share and transfer technology among your members?

It comes down to the support we get from the member countries. For the drug advisory programme, we still get generous and voluntary support from Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, and of course the US. On our own, we can only do so much.

For example, the US recently approved for us to uplift and upskill the competencies and capabilities of forensic laboratories. The Colombo Plan is therefore starting with four countries: Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the Maldives. We are providing them with advanced gas chromatography analysis systems and mass spectrographic equipment for their crime/narcotics testing labs. Technology will be provided for the countries; we will help them to use and maintain it and monitor its use.

Again, if we get more support, we will not be limited in our scope. Due to funding availability, we are constrained to providing such capacity building for a few countries at a time. This is one of the challenges we face, especially securing more support to widen our reach and scope. If we can secure more support from more traditional donors, we can do more. 

We also hope there will be more funding for key issues like biodiversity protection and sustainability, as they have a wide range of implications for everyone on the planet.

Indonesia and Thailand also provide support for our projects.

There is much discussion today on South-South cooperation. However, The Colombo Plan has long been a proponent of such. With nearly seven decades of history behind your organisation, how would you rate the South-South Cooperation that is ongoing?

As far as relationships between our member countries are concerned, they are going well. Despite current geopolitics, South-South cooperation is going well. The only hindrance that I see at this point in time is the state of the economy. Even the economies of big countries like China and Japan are currently suffering. 

The same can be said for Europe; with the Russia-Ukraine war, things are not as good as they were before. There are a lot of disruptions.

However, despite limitations, South-South cooperation is going well and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and ASEAN help us with a lot of technical assistance.

We also have a good relationship with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

Can you briefly explain how The Colombo Plan contributes to its members’ growth and improves their networking with regional and international actors?

Some of the key work involves technical training and upskilling. We also provide training overseas. For example, The Colombo Plan is helping the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) travel overseas to upskill. This will also happen with the gas chromatography capacity-building programme for Sri Lanka. 

For the maritime projects, we have been engaging with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to help upskill staff and provide specialised training. We were surprised to find that in the Sri Lankan port operations sector, there is a big specialisation gap compared to some of its competitors. In some areas, Sri Lankan ports have been left behind by others. This is despite Sri Lanka having one of the well-known ports in the world. 

We want Sri Lanka to be competitive. We want to help Sri Lanka catch up and do so quickly. This is because Sri Lanka has huge potential in the maritime sector. Hopefully, we can help Sri Lanka get there soon.

We are also trying to help with capacity building in international relations, through support from the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) in Colombo.

One concern we have is about Sri Lanka losing many skilled and experienced youth who are travelling overseas. It is a pity that you are losing so many talented young people in such a short time.

The Colombo Plan has a focus on Sri Lanka’s maritime sector and recently facilitated a Memorandum of Cooperation between the SLPA and the Virginia Ports Authority (VPA) in the US, which will help build expertise and share experience. How do such programmes help Sri Lanka advance its strategic and economic goals?

By being exposed to model ports in the world, they see what others have done successfully. It will also help SLPA officials model the operationalisation of Sri Lankan ports after such models. This is just the start. 

We visited the port in Virginia; next year we plan to visit ports on the West Coast. We also plan to expose SLPA officials to large ports in South Korea. Hopefully, the exposure will show them various options of how to do things and get things done. Each port they visit has a niche area in which it specialises.

Hopefully the officials of SLPA will try to see what would be a fit for Sri Lanka. Of course, not everything will work for Sri Lanka; you have to be selective to pick what works for you. It will give them the opportunity to see and decide what mix or set of tools and systems will work for Sri Lanka. Whatever they decide, we will try to help them and support them. 

This year, The Colombo Plan finishes the part where we teach the SLPA staff soft skills. Next year, we may continue to teach and introduce hard skills. The US has been very generous in helping Sri Lanka with port sector capacity building.