The idea of launching the Colombo Plan germinated at a meeting of Commonwealth Foreign Ministers in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) in January 1950, where the Ministers concentrated their attention on the needs of South and South-East Asia and the strategies to address them. The final communiqué emphasized the need for the furtherance of economic development in the area. The recommendations inter alia included to establish a Consultative Committee “to focus world attention on the development problems of the area and to provide a framework within which an international co-operative effort could be promoted”. The purpose of the Colombo Plan is co-operative economic development in South and South-East Asia. Again, as its motto “Planning Prosperity Together” declares, the Colombo Plan is a collaborative effort of nations to bring about the well-being of people through self-help and mutual-help of countries in the region. Over the years, the Colombo Plan grew from the group of seven Commonwealth nations – Australia, UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand and Pakistan – into an international organization of 26, including non-commonwealth nations. The current member countries are: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, USA and Vietnam.