Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia

The twelfth annual meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Colombo Plan for Cooperative Economic Development in South and Southeast Asia was held in Tokyo, Japan, from October 31 through November 17, 1960. The session consisted of the officials' meeting (October 31 to November 11) and the ministerial meeting (November 14 to 17), and was attended by nearly 160 delegates from the 21 member countries of the Colombo Plan, along with observers from Afghanistan and five international organizations. Besides adopting the ninth annual report, the Committee examined the economic situation in the area and noted that progress had been made during the year under review; in most countries production had increased and conditions were favorable to the expansion of both public and private investment. The delegates reported that the mobilization of domestic resources in the area had improved and that several countries had taken measures to restrain inflationary pressures. As a result of more favorable balance of payments conditions and an increase in external investment, the inflow of capital goods into the area had generally increased. The Committee, in noting these most welcome developments, drew attention to the fact that in many instances substantially increased financial resources had become available to the members of the Colombo Plan as the direct result of the efforts exerted by these developing countries themselves.