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UN aid talks aim to end impasse (Si



Subject: UN aid talks aim to end impasse (Sidney Morning Herald)

Differences emerge in planned Trans Asian Railway route talks

        DHAKA, May 30 AFP) - Despite a general consensus, differences with
India have
     delayed the final drawing of the 11,700 kilometer (7,254 miles) long
Trans Asian Railway
     (TAR) route, officials said Sunday.

     Indian objection to the drawing proposed by Bangladesh and backed by
Nepal and
     Pakistan during this week's meeting in Dhaka barred the 10
participating south and east
     Asian countries from reaching a final agreement, they said.

     The four-day meeting was sponsored by the ESCAP (Economic and Social
Commission
     for Asia and the Pacific) which had proposed the Trans Asian Railway
linkage from
     China's Yunnan province to Bulgaria in Europe covering countries like
Thailand,
     Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Pakistan in its southern corridor.

     There were conflicting interests involving New Delhi's objections to a
proposed route
     alingment inside Bangladesh, ESCAP official M. Rahmatullah said.

     But he added "we are hopeful the concerned countries would reach a
consensus soon as
     Indian officials assured us of rethinking their stand."

     Dhaka said it would allow its territory to be used for the TAR
intersection provided
     Nepal, which remains out of the original TAR track, was allowed to be
linked with the
     route through Bangladesh instead of India.

     Landlocked Nepal supported the proposal as it would reduce the linkage
by some 400
     kilometers.

     India refused the idea apparently due to its possible loss of revenue
income if
     Kathmandu is allowed to use Bangladesh's southwestern Mongla port
instead of existing
     Calcutta harbour due to the railway alignment.

     The meeting sources said Indian officials had hinted New Delhi might
reconsider its
     objection and a "possitive announcement" might come during Indian Prime
Minister Atal
     Behari Vajpayee's expected visit to Bangladesh next month.

     An ESCAP statement on the meeting said the TAR could be made operational
     immediately from Europe to Central Asia as soon as the routes were
finalised as the
     network was in fact an interlock of existing national railway tracks.

     The South Asian corridor of the TAR network would intersect Myanmar,
India,
     Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey, while other regional countries
would be linked

     up.

     Officials said the proposed corridor, however, has a missing link of a
total 1,620
     kilometers, including 300 kilometers in Myanmar, which would be covered
by other modes of transport including ships or setting up new tracks.