Seoul (AsiaNews) An agreement to build a highway linking nine Asian countriesSouth Korea, China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia and Azerbaijantook effect yesterday. Bangladesh, the Philippines, Turkmenistan, Singapore and North Korea still have to sign up.
The project was originally launched at a session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asian and Pacific (UNESCAP) held in Shanghai on April 2004, with 27 countries among the total of 32 participating nations informally signed off on the construction of the highway on condition of each government's ratification.
Upon completion, it should include 32 countries and 55 routes for a total road network of 141,000 kilometres.
Within three months of the ratification by at least eight countries the agreement came into effect. Cambodia was the eighth country to ratify the agreement on April 4, 2005 so that it took effect on July 4.
"The international highway is a milestone in regional cooperation that will enlarge trade and tourism among the countries,'' a South Korean Construction and Transportation Ministry official said. "It will also contribute to boosting cooperation between the two Koreas," he added.
In South Korea, the project won't require building new routes but will need only appropriate highway signs for the Seoul-Pusan and Kankung-Pusan highways.
Participating nations are required to put signposts displaying "Asian Highway" by July 2010.
The agreement covers 19 articles including technical standards for a network of roads, route signage, numbering and design standards and processes.
The highway project has yet to tackle many thorny issues, such as the opening of the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea.
