Colombo Plan - FM's praise
THE Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 42nd Consultative Committee Meeting (CCM) of Colombo Plan. In his inaugural address, Mr. Mukherjee said that as a founder member, India has always been a strong supporter of the Colombo Plan initiative and has always taken a lead in promoting the cause of collective self-reliance among Colombo Plan member countries. He said that India would continue to play the role of an effective partner of the Colombo Plan, established for cooperative economic and social development in the Asia and the Pacific. Talking about the theme of the 42nd CCM, ‘Public Private Partnerships', the Minister said that for the public private partnership initiative to succeed, it is necessary to remove prevailing constraints in the form of policy and regulatory gaps, inadequate availability of long term finance, management capacity and inadequate shelf of bankable infrastructure projects. ‘We are making our best efforts to create an environment congenial for fostering public private partnerships and though much more needs to be done our endeavours are beginning to bear fruit. There are currently about 450 PPP projects being implemented in various parts of the country with an estimated project cost of US dollar 47.7 billion. India is prepared to share its experience and best practices with, and learn from the experiences of, our other Colombo Plan partners', stated Mr. Mukherjee. On the occasion, the Finance Minister released a compilation prepared by the Colombo Plan Secretariat titled, “A Legacy of Excellence: The Story of the Colombo Plan”.