APO Secretary-General Ryuichiro Yamazaki attended the 43rd Colombo Plan (CP) Consultative Committee Meeting (CCM) as an observer, 11 to 12 October 2012. The CCM was hosted by the Government of the Republic of Indonesia in Manado, North Sulawesi. The theme for this year’s CCM was Bringing Marginalized to the Mainstream and finding a common platform for the revitalization of the CP and its work with various stakeholders and partners in line with recent global discussions on development cooperation. Delegates from the 21 member countries of the CP attended the meeting, as well as observers from the APO, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, and the State of Kuwait.

During the Observers’ Statements session held at the end of the first day, Secretary-General Yamazaki informed the CCM that the APO had celebrated its 50th anniversary and explained the various commemorative activities, including the adoption of the Taipei Declaration on Productivity and Sustainable, Inclusive Development of the Asia-Pacific Region. He emphasized the long history of cooperation between the APO and CP, which dated back to 1962, and summarized the extensive collaborative efforts of the two organizations at the project level in such areas as agricultural productivity, Green Productivity, and capacity-building of SMEs.