Japanese Ambassador Seiichiro Otsuka handed over the cheque to Colombo Plan Secretary-General U. Sarat Chandran at a simple ceremony at the embassy on Monday.

The embassy in a statement said that Japan had been contributing to the entire budget of the PPA of the Colombo Plan since its inception in 1995. Furthermore, in addition to providing voluntary assistance, Japan has been providing the Secretariat with the services of experts from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to head the Programme for Public Administration.

The PPA has been pursuing skill development and capacity building programmes for public officials involved in policy formulation in Colombo Plan member countries. The PPA aims at developing the human resource base of developing member countries necessary for making their public administration responsive to the requirements of a fast changing world characterized by liberalization, free markets and accelerated technological change.

Ambassador Otsuka said that Japan valued the important role played by the Colombo Plan, which sought to promote economic and social development of member countries, emphasising on south-south technical cooperation.

He assured Dr. Chandran of Japan's continuing support to the Colombo Plan.

Dr. Chandran thanked the Government of Japan for its continued strong support for the Colombo Plan in general, and the Programme for Public Administration in particular.