The Colombo plan

Title

The Colombo plan

Creator

Stirling, Alfred

Identifier

PI-Australia link

Language

English

Source

Panorama Volume XIII (No.7) July 1961

Year

1961

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

PI-Australia Link THE COLOMBO PLAN H. E. Alfred Stirling Ambassador of Australia Many countries in the world are celebrating the tenth an niversary of the. Colombo Plan. My own country, Aus tralia, has long been intimate ly connected with the Plan— in fact since that day, some eleven years ago, when the then Australian Foreign Mi nister, Sir Percy Spender, put his idea before the Foreign Ministers of British Common wealth countries gathered at Colombo in Ceylon. Looking back over ten years of the Colombo Plan, there is no doubt in my mind that its most worthwhile fea ture has been the way in which it has drawn together our two countries like a set of grappling irons, and ena bled both you and ourselves to board as friends, the ships of culture—similar yet sepa rate—on which our two peo ples sail. B.C.—Before Colombo — we knew one another as friends and allies—partners in a bit ter war — but our contacts were short-term ones, based on little real understanding of the lives and hopes of our respective peoples or the de tail of the problems, big and small, which each of us faced. After Colombo, our relation ships were put on a perma nent and formally organized basis in many different ways (S.E.A.T.O., for instance), but the symbol and the vehicle for our growing association in great measure has been the Colombo Plan. The direct effects of the Colombo Plan are readily no ticed and easily identified— you here in the University will be aware of these effects and be living amongst then, at work, in your homes and in your social and professional relationships — for an over whelming number of youi alumni and faculty members have gone to Australia to fur ther their studies or to take specialised training and they have gone—not only to learn but to teach—to, bring some thing of the warmth and va riety of Philippine life into 90 Panorama Australian homes, schools and Universities; to make Austra lian friends; to talk about your problems; and to pub licise your country and your culture in all the cities and states of Australia. They come back with a knowledge of Australia and its problems; of Australians and their way of life, and they discuss it all with their friends and asso ciates. At the same time, the ma chinery works in reverse and many Australian visitors, from a wide variety of fields, come to the Philippines un der the auspices of the Co lombo Plan. They too return home with an extenive first hand knowledge of this coun try—a knowledge which can only be of mutual benefit to both countries. Again, directly under the Colombo Plan, the Govern ments of the Philippines and Australia in partnership have initiated various large-scale projects to spur on and ex pand the developing econo my of this country—the cons truction of an Artificial Limb Factory at the new National Orthopaedic Hospital in Que zon City is a case in point— here the Philippine Govern ment is constructing the buil ding in which the factory will be housed and the Australian Government is providing the machinery on which skilled Filipino hands will manufac ture artificial limbs tor the less fortunate of their coun trymen. On a Government level, it makes it possible for countries to base their policies on a more accurate knowledge of their neighbours; on an indi vidual level, it brings into close association a variety of peoples. In terms of econo mics, it possesses advantages for all partners; and, cultural ly, it enriches the life of mem ber nations. I turn now to the indirect effects of the Colombo Plan. The Colombo Plan, because in practice it tends to be limi ted rather strictly to Govern ment to Government relation ships, has a direct effect large ly confined to the public sec tor of our societies. Yet these societies are democratically organized and based on the principle of freedom for the individual and, within the li mits of the law, his right to engage in such enterprise as he may consider to be worth while. As a result, there has grown up in the Philippines, as in Australia, a large and flourishing world of private enterprise. And almost alone among countries of this re gion, the Philippines harbours in this pool of private enter prise not only the executives July 1961 91 and employees of business and industrial endeavour, but an extensive population of fine brains and sensitive minds— doctors, scientists, lawyers, historians, writers, architects, painters, and musicians. Not the least of the indi rect effects of the Plan on Philippine-Australian r e 1 a - tions has been that we in Australia have beaome aware of the existence of this fine ly-trained and culturally bril liant pool of persons and have developed informal and pri vate contacts with them. In terested organizations have invited them to Australia and have held discussions with them—for instance the Asian Pacific Conference of Cardio logy which, was attended by twelve of your senior special ists in heart surgery. Or again there is the recent visit to Australia of the outstanding violinist from Negros, Gilopez Kabayao. On the other hand, seme of our best men from this same corner of the pri vate sector have called on their counterparts here—for instance, Dr. Ewen Downie, the world-renowned Austra lian specialist in diabetes or Archbishop Eris O’Brien, who is a prominent Australian his torian in his own right. And numerous other examples of exchanges of this sort can be isolated. It is one of the many vir tues of the Colombo Plan that we in Australia, through it, have become aware of the rich resources of brilliance which are to be found in the Philippines and following up our discovery, have been able to tap these resources. Un fortunately, however, there remains one difficulty which prevents us exploiting these resources in depth, because to date, they have been judgedto fall outside the strict terri tory of the Colombo Plan— even though, I assure, you, the Colombo Plan 'principle is wide enough to accommo date the exploitation of such resources. In the first ten years, we have launched the Colombo Plan and built a strong rap port between our two Gov ernments and our respective public sectors. It is my sin cere hope that the Colombo Plan will be expanded and developed —broadened —not only to include these very well worthwhile contacts bet ween Government and Gov ernment, but between the professional spheres of pri vate enterprise. This is the task the accomplishment of which I see as the paramount objective of the Colombo Plan as it enters upon its second decade. 92 Panorama

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90+

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