Ancient Dream of Europe-Asia Overland Trade Route May Be Reality by Year 2000

An ancient dream of a direct overland trade route linking Europe with Southeast Asia could become a reality by the year 2000.

U.N. officials say the last major obstacle to plans for the Pan-Asian Highway was overcome when Myanmar (Burma), which forms a barrier between India and eastern Asia, agreed to cooperate last October.

Burma previously had refused to participate in the U.N. project to create a 40,000-mile network, by building new roads or upgrading existing ones, stretching from Turkey and Iran and passing through many other countries to Vietnam and Singapore.

“The completion of the Asian highway is of great importance to the region, for it opens up new perspectives in the development of road transport, trade and tourism at subregional and regional levels,” said a joint news release by Myanmar and the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“With the participation of Myanmar, the missing link in the highway network between Bangladesh and Thailand will be removed, making it possible to eventually travel from Southeast Asia to Europe (directly) overland,” said S. Kibria, head of ESCAP in Bangkok.

The project was first put forward in 1959 under the auspices of the then Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) as a means to bind countries together peacefully and propel them toward greater prosperity. But the dream was shattered by the war in Indochina.

U.N. officials now estimate that the whole project could take another 10 years to complete.

Countries involved are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Diplomats said Rangoon’s previous opposition to the plan was probably due to the Burmese government’s problems in suppressing ethnic insurgent groups.

“The fact that Myanmar has agreed to join is a tremendous breakthrough for us. One hopes that following the elections (Myanmar elections in May) there will be more international recognition for the project,” said David Turner, head of ESCAP’s transport and communications division.

“We have asked the Burmese to designate roads they wish to include in the project, and we are hoping for a link between Rangoon and Bangkok,” he added.

A Pan-Asian Highway would substantially cut some distances for transporting goods. For instance, the distance between Yangon (Rangoon) and Bangkok by land is less than half that by sea.

Interest in the project was revived in the 1980s by China’s open-door policy, which led to Beijing’s decision to officially cooperate with the project in 1988.

Economic reforms in Indochina in recent years have provided a boost as some governments realized the need to upgrade roads and infrastructure to attract foreign investment.

It was also helped in 1988 when Thailand reversed its policy of isolation toward Indochina’s hard-line communist states with Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan unveiling his bold initiative to turn “battlefields into marketplaces.”

Participating nations have agreed to designate their main national routes as a part of the overall project, and will fill in gaps and upgrade substandard sections with the help of soft loans and bilateral funding.

Increased trade and commerce along the route is expected to stimulate economic development, particularly in rural areas.

Academics in Thailand say it would encourage the development of regional hubs of industry--at places such as Chiang Mai in the country’s north--to relieve pressure on congested and polluted Bangkok.

China’s southwestern province of Yunnan has already begun forging links with the province of Chiang Mai.