A
NQ DATE
M/ 41 23 February 1973
AUSTRALIAN CONTRIBUTION TO A. IAN CENTRE
Australia. is to contribute the equivalent of $ US24,000
annually over a neriod of five years towards the establishment of
the Asian Centre for Development Administration in Kuala Lumpur.
Announcing this today, the Acting Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Senator Willesee, said that the centre would undertake
S high level training and research to help meet the needs for
qualified administrators of developing countries in the ECAFE
region. The centre would begin operating towards the middle of
this year and it was planned to review Australia's contribution
after two years. Senator Willesee said that the work of the centre
would be a comparatively new element in ECAFE's activities.
Australia had tnken an active interest in all aspects
of the work of ECAFE, which nlayed an imoortont role in the
promotion of economic development and co-operation within the
region.
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The two other ECAFE institutions to which Australia
contributes are the Asian Statistical Institute in Tokyo and
the Asian Institute for Economic Development and Planning in
Bangkok. ECAFE ( the Economic Commission For Asia and the Far
East) is one of the four regional commissions of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council. It was founded in 1947
to encourage the economic and social development of Asia and
the Far East.