Foreign Minister Julie Bishop chats about her memories of her first overseas trip at the launch of the New Colombo Plan for Australian undergraduates.
Federal Government is offering young people the chance to visit places like China. Source: Supplied
TENS of thousands of young Australians will have the choice of living, studying and working in dozens of countries under a massive upgrade of the Government's New Colombo Plan.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop today said a pilot scheme limited to four countries would next year be expanded to a full program offering visits to 35 nations.
Ms Bishop said the scheme's participants would gain experiences that would add to "the productivity and prosperity of our country".
"But so much more importantly, they will be part of generations of young Australians interacting with young people in countries in our region," she said.
"And that kind of connection is gold."
The program, to cost more than $100 million over four years, is actually a reverse Colombo plan.
Young people will be able to travel to places like Japan. AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko Source: AP
From 1951 to the 1980s the original Colombo Plan saw thousands of young men and women from our regional neighbours educated in Australia. Many now are senior figures in government and business in their homelands.
The New Colombo Plan will do the same for young Australians, providing them with study and business experiences overseas.
It has become a flagship program in regional contacts following the $7.6 billion in cuts to foreign aid from the Budget in May – the largest single spending reduction.
"Of all the policies, and of all the rhetoric that engagement in the region, it's investing in our young people, it's investing in our future, that will ensure Australia is a strong and prosperous in a safe and secure region," Ms Bishop said.
She said at a recent Association of South East Asian Nations conference "about a dozen of the foreign minister present there raised the New Colombo Plan in their set speech as an example of the kind of activity, engagement, that our region was seeking to embrace".
"So Australia's new Colombo Plan , like the original historic Colombo Plan of the 1950s, is all about building people-to-people links and networks of friendships and engagement that will last a lifetime," she said.
Scholarship program is available for those aged 18 to 28 years old and there are 35 countries you can visit. Source: News Limited
Julie Bishop and senior tertiary education figures developed an outline for the program in Opposition and had to convince Prime Minister Tony Abbott it would work.
It is open to undergraduates aged 18 to 28 at Australian universities and provides internships and mentorships in the region. Arrangements are made between home universities and host institutions.
Next year the New Colombo Plan will provide around 60 scholarships and $8 million in assistance known as "mobility grants".
Nations taking part in the scheme are:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, East Timor, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.
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