Intergovernmental
Agreement on the Asian Highway Network
The formalization of the Asian Highway network through
an Intergovernmental Agreement was one of the priority activities of
the Regional Action Plan adopted by the Ministerial Conference on Infrastructure
held in Seoul in 2001 and endorsed by the Commission at its 58th Session.
The draft of the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network
was considered and revised by the
Working Group Meeting for Drafting Intergovernmental Agreement on Asian
Highway Network held in Bangkok from 11 to 12 November 2002.
The fourth session of the Committee on Transport, Communications, Tourism
and Infrastructure Development held in November 2002 noted the progress
made in drafting the intergovernmental agreement on the Asian Highway
network by the working group meeting. The Committee recommended that
an ad hoc intergovernmental meeting (IGM) be convened in the second
half of 2003 to consider and adopt the agreement. Noting the desire
of member countries to become parties to the agreement, the Committee
recommended that a signing ceremony be held during the sixtieth session
of the Commission at Shanghai, China in 2004.
The first phase of the 59th session of the Commission held in April
2003 felt that the ad hoc intergovernmental meeting to finalize and
adopt the intergovernmental agreement on the Asian Highway network could
be held back to back with the first session of the Committee on Managing
Globalization.
The second phase of the 59th session of the Commission held in September
2003 noted that such an agreement would play a catalytic role in the
coordinated development of international highways in the region, as
well as between Asia and Europe and hoped that the agreement could be
concluded at the meeting in November 2003.
The Intergovernmental Agreement was discussed and adopted by the Intergovernmental
Meeting on the Asian Highway Network held in Bangkok from 17-18 November
2003.
As a result of the Intergovernmental Meeting, the Asian Highway route
AH1 now extends from Pusan to Fukuoka and Tokyo. Now the Asian Highway
network extends to 32 member countries with around 140,000 kilometres
of highways across the whole of Asia.
A signing
ceremony of the Intergovernmental Agreement was held during the
60th session of the UNESCAP Commission in Shanghai, China, on 26 April
2004.
The Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network entered into force on 4 July 2005.
The Intergovernmental Agreement
on the Asian Highway Network (English/Russian/Chinese)
