Specific success stories.

Perhaps more than any other ESCAP undertaking, the Asian highway and railway projects symbolize the effort by ESCAP to encourage cooperation in Asia and the Pacific. The idea to establish a highway running across Asia from Saigon to the Turkish border was launched in 1959. It has developed steadily over the years and has recently receive. d a fuel injection in terms of funding to keep it up with the speedy economic progress in the region.

The Asian highway project has strengthened the sense of regional identity in the Asia-Pacific region. By 1968, it was possible to travel from Europe to Chittagong in Bangladesh. In the eastern sector, one could travel from Singapore to Vientiane via Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

The then Executive Secretary of ESCAP, U Nyun (1957-1973), explained the project this way: "The Asian Highway was a rallying point for Asian countries. It was a way of getting in touch with each other again, for roads have always provided the means of contact between peoples and cultures."

The Asian highway as it stands today is the result of the steady and unrelenting work of ESCAP. With the opening up of the possibility for new routes connecting Asia and Europe, it was decided that an integrated approach would be the best way to improve infrastructure in the region. In 1992, the Commission approved the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project as an umbrella project comprising the Asian highway, the trans-Asian railway and the facilitation of land transport projects. ALTID is a priority for Phase II (1992-1996) of the Transport and Communications Decade for Asia and the Pacific.

ESCAP is now revising and improving the quality of the estimated 67,000 kilometres of road network in Asia with funds from the Government of Japan. The new criteria in highway classification will ensure the connection between capitals, important economic and industrial centres, major sea and river ports, and international container terminals.

Annual growth in the vehicle fleet (motor cycles and cars) is more than 5 per cent in many Asian countries and exceeds 10 per cent in China, India, Laos and Thailand. Growth in roads is most significant in Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Mongolia where the length of the paved portion of main roads grows at a rate of more than 4 per cent per year. Development of road networks in Nepal, Myanmar, India and Laos is very slow, sometimes creating what is called "missing links".

New studies on highway networks in North-East Asia are on the drawing board. It is hoped that once these studies are completed, it will result in an Asian Highway network for the whole ESCAP region, thus making the dream of linking Europe and Asia by road come true. The New Asian Highway Route Map, published by ESCAP in 1995, shows the current status of the network.

In the meantime, new countries have become members of ESCAP, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. An Expert Group meeting therefore recommended a new study of highway networks in those countries to include their major highways in the regional Asian Highway network.

Among the obstacles faced by ESCAP in promoting free and smooth movement of land transport is the lack of bilateral agreements between countries sharing a border. The conditions of border crossing road links and facilities sometimes also leaves much to be desired.

Many Asian Highway member countries have not acceded to major international land transport facilitation conventions, including transit conventions, which all play an important role in the development of landlocked countries, such as Afghanistan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal and all Asian Republics. ESCAP therefore undertook a consolidated approach in 1992 by urging the countries that have not yet done so to accede to seven major conventions which are considered the most important for the improvement of land transport. As a result, some countries have acceded to a number of Conventions and other countries are considering to do so.

Even if the physical highway network exists, there is a need to promote its use, in the countries and regionally, for trade and tourism purposes. It is also necessary to provide investment to improve the network continuously, based on up-to-date information on the condition of roads and current traffic demands.

The other part of ESCAP's ALTID project - the plan to strengthen railway linkages within Asia - is gathering steam. The total length of railways in the Asia-Pacific grew only marginally between 1986 and 1994 - by just 2,500 kilometres of track or an average annual rate of growth of only 0.1 per cent. But with trade in the region growing at 13.4 per cent against 9.4 per cent for the world, planners are beginning to improve the rail network in the region, trying to prevent the expanding business from being hampered by more expensive road and air transport.

The development and strengthening of transport linkages within and between the Asian countries are among the objectives of the Transport and Communications Decade for Asia and the Pacific (Phase II 19921996), adopted by ESCAP. ALTID, which is an integrated project of the Decade, comprises the Trans-Asian Railway and Asian Highway projects and Facilitation of Land Transport.

The ALTID project is being implemented step by step, beginning at subregional levels. A geographical area, comprising Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam, constitutes one such subregion featuring very dynamic economic and trade development. A study on the Trans-Asian Railway in the Indo-China and the Association of South East Asian Nations Subregion was carried out under ALTID, with the financial assistance of the Government of Japan.

In mid-May, the Presidents of Iran, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Pakistan inaugurated a landmark rail link in Iran calling it the New Silk Route. The line slips into Turkmenistan to connect the Central Asian nation with the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas, opening up trade possibilities for South-East Asian trade into that part of the continent.

Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS: ESCAP helps Governments reduce the demand for drugs and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, attempting to make a direct impact on the lives of people and communities in the region. Hudao village in Yunnan province, China, at the border to Myanmar, had no drug problems at all until 1982. Then due to a number of factors, the incidence and prevalence of drug abuse rose sharply. With the technical and financial help of ESCAP, the Chinese Government began to implement projects on community-based drug demand reduction and HIV prevention.

Activities in Hudao began with the mobilization of community members, who, as a first step, removed the village leaders from their positions, as they were themselves drug abusers. Two years later, after a wide and effective publicity campaign, drugs were no longer available in the village and there were no intravenous drug users. Community-based drug demand reduction and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes are being implemented, with ESCAP assistance, in Bangladesh, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Special emphasis is placed on cross-border collaboration.

Poverty eradication: In order to include the poor in the design and fulfilment of programmes, ESCAP has created a project called "SAARC Seven Sisters: district development coordination and improved poverty design". Under the project, a forum is being established at the district level in each of the participating SAARC countries (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). The forum consists of people from the Government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the poor themselves. The benefits of the project are that it does not involve creation of new bureaucracy; the poor, particularly women, are represented; and it is the only institution that brings together government officials, NGOs and the poor on one platform.

Environment: In the late fifties, ESCAP (then ECAFE) successfully initiated cooperation on water-related issues among Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, making up the Lower Mekong River Basin. For over 40 years, that institution has received support from many other international organizations and bilateral donors.

Since 1947, ESCAP has helped countries of the region mitigate the effects of natural disasters, particularly floods. With the World Meteorological Organization, ESCAP established the Typhoon Committee in 1968 and the Panel on Tropical Cyclones in 1972.

ESCAP trade information on Internet: Trade-related information for Asia and the Pacific has been made available on the Internet by ESCAP and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). Launched in Bangkok in April 1996 by Thai Prime Minister Banham Silapa-Archa, TraFIX, or the Trade Facilitation Information Exchange, was developed by the ECE, in collaboration with ESCAP. It is a "one-stop address" in cyberspace for a vast range of information on trade facilitation, including recommendations on simplification and harmonization of trade procedures and documentation, conventions and legal issues and international standards.

Asia-Pacific trade practitioners look up the World Wide Web site of the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC) in Bangkok for quick and cost-effective access to data on trade-related information. The URL (Universal Resource Locator) address of TraFIX is: ecie.un.or.th. TraFIX hopes to facilitate networking among trade practitioners and trade-related organizations for exchange of information and promotion of communication throughout the world.