COLOMBO PLAN SERVICES

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26944, 21 January 1953, Page 9

COLOMBO PLAN SERVICES

95 STUDENTS FROM ASIA SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR , Ninety-five Asian students and fellows holding Colombo Plan awards uave been received in New Zealand to study in the university colleges, Government departments, schools and industries, in the period between March, 1951, and December. 1952. ± orty-five have completed their studies and returned to their own countries, other Colombo Plan grantees will ar£f ve ,, ln th® Dominion early this year. Further awards are still being discussed.

. Colombo Plan is a practical effort initiated by British countries to improve standards of living in a vast area of the world by co-operative, international action. The co-operative strength of the . Commonwealth is* being used to assist countries in south ana south-east Asia in carrying out their own economic plans and help tnem to help themselves by producing more food, more textiles, more power. ±ne plan was drawn up by the countries benefiting from it, and is not s?de Gthing imposed on Asia from out-

The supplier countries operate largely at the request of the user countries. The supplier countries are Ca nada ’ Australia, and New Zealand. Several Asian countries are themselves providing funds for '•technical assistance for other countries rLu 1 j re fl o ?' The participation of the United S.ates of America and the International Bank, which provide financial aid outside the framework of the plan, is of considerable importance. //*?. benefiting, or user, countries are India, Pakistan, Ceylon, British North e0 ' Malaya, Sarawak, and Singahlle Jurma, Laos, Viet-nam, an . d Ne Pal have also now joined the scheme. Indonesia also receives aid under the plan. > New Zealand's Contribution The Colombo Plan provides that Commonwealth countries should spend m Asia over £2,000,000,000 in six years. As a partner in the plan, New Zealand s contribution is £3,000,000 for economic development spread over three years, and in addition, £400,000 for technical assistance—to make economic aid more profitable. The assistance scheme began in July, 1950; the economic section of the * ln + 1951. Both schemes operate to June, 1957. New Zealand’s economic aid for the first year of the Colombo Plan ending June, 1952, went to India, Pakistan country received £250,000 each, with £250,000 held in reserve. The contribution to India f dpp ° r * ed part of the capital cost of J? e ,i.A 11 "J I ? dia Medical Institute, New Delhi, which will provide training and research facilities for medical men from the whole of India. The allocation to Pakistan is being used to provide a pool of earth-moving equipment, which will be used for large scale development projects; in the first instance for the .Nari Bolan scheme, which is the largest of a whole senes of irrigation projects in Northern Baluchistan. Ceylon's allocation is being used for the establishment of an agricultural research station at Maha Iluppalama in central Ceylon.

Technical Assistance Programme The technical assistance programme is divided into three major categories:—(l) the training in New Zealand of the people from Asia: (2) the sending of experts from New Zealand to Asian countries to advise and train people, or to initiate projects; (3) providing equipment related to training and research. Of the total number of 95 Colombo Plan grantees who have come to New Zealand during 1951-52, there were 24 from Pakistan, 25 from India, 24 from Ceylon, 13 from Malaya, three from British North Borneo, five from Sarawak, and one from Singapore. They studied in a diversity of fields, including nursing, school dental nursing, social services, maternal and child welfare, railway engineering, pharmacology, animal husbandry, medicine, import and export control, public administration, school organisation and teaching, factory management, mathematics, gmd chemical analysis of minerals. The majority of these Asian people hold academic degrees in their special spheres, and all speak good English—one of the requirements for a Colombo Plan award for study jn New Zealand.

Experts Sent to Asia New Zealand has sent 13 specialists of various kinds to Asian countries to assist them in their economic development. Five nurses have been sent to Pakistan and are attached to hospitals there. A cost accountant, an insurance expert, a radio engineer and an agriculturist have also been loaned to Pakistan. India has been sent three tutor sisters who are at the College of Nursing, Delhi University. British North Borneo has received a teacher of physical education. Negotiations are going ahead to send other experts to the area.