BANGKOK, April 9: A decades-old dream of building Asia's first trans-national highway will move a step closer this month as 24 of 32 countries committed to it will sign an agreement for a road from Japan to western Russia , the United Nations said on Friday.

The proposed Asian Highway would extend across 32 countries along several routes, stretching through China south to Indonesia, and as far west as Russia's border with Finland, according to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).

"This 140,000 kilometre (87,000 mile) highway will contribute tremendously to regional economic integration," UNESCAP executive secretary Kim Hak-Su told reporters ahead of the official signing in Shanghai on April 26.

"All 32 countries have agreed in principle to signing, but it would depend on passing this agreement internally through each country, so not everyone will be ready to sign in Shanghai," said Kim.

The UN first conceived of an Asian trans-national route in 1959, but was unable to implement the project because of geopolitical hurdles at the time. "Under the Cold War period we could not think of any highway running through China or even Russia or the Korean peninsula," said Kim, adding that all Cold War states, including North Korea, had now agreed to develop the route.

The agreement in Shanghai will outline roads to be built and upgraded and establish minimum standards for the highway routes, while an overall budget and time-frame for completion are expected to be announced in 2006.

"Trade is increasing quite rapidly, about 40 per cent last year, and Asian countries realize they need this infrastructure to service that growth," said UNESCAP poverty and development division chief Raj Kumar.

The main route - Asian Highway 1 - is expected to start in Tokyo and terminate in Istanbul, passing though North and South Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Armenia along the way. -AFP