Deadline for Pakistan to join Asian Rail plan

KUALA LUMPUR—Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh and six other countries will get two more years for signing the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR), initiated by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).
At least 18 Asian nations signed the agreement at a meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan. The countries, which signed the agreement on Friday last were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, the Republic of Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Viet Nam. The agreement will be submitted to the UN Secretary-General in New York and kept open for signature for two years. It will come into force 90 days after the remaining nine states deposit the instrument of ratification or the equivalent. Remaining 9 countries namely Burma, Bangladesh, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Turkmenistan, who are yet to sign the agreement will get two more years time (from November 16, 2006 to December 31, 2008) to sign the agreement.
An authorised representative of the government or ambassador of the country concerned to the United Nations will be free to sign the agreement any time. The Trans-Asian Railway Network of about 81,000-kilometre network also known as ‘Iron Silk Road’ would link capitals, ports and industrial hubs across 28 Asian countries all the way to Europe.—Agencies