"The Asian Highway network is a network of 141,000 kilometers of standardized roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries with linkages to Europe. The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved, however, progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975. Entering into the 1980s and 1990s, regional political and economic changes spurred new momentum for the Asian Highway Project. It became one of the three pillars of Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by ESCAP Commission at its forty-eight session in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway and facilitation of land transport projects. The Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network was adopted on 18 November 2003 by an intergovernmental meeting held in Bangkok, was open for signature in April 2004 in Shanghai and entered into force on 4 July 2005. A total of US$26 billion has already been invested in the improvement and upgrading of the Asian Highway network. However, there is still a shortfall of US$18 billion. UNESCAP secretariat is now working with its member countries to identify financial sources for the development of the network to improve their road transport capacity and efficiency..."