Bangladesh and eight other countries will get two more years for signing the Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR), initiated by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), local daily The Financial Express reported Sunday.

Eighteen Asian nations signed the TAR agreement at a meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan on Nov.10, according to the United Nations (UN) officials.

The accord 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, said a UN report, released from New York Friday.

The countries, which will get two more years time to sign the agreement are Bangladesh, Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK), Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Singapore and Turkmenistan.

The countries which signed the agreement 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 Vietnam.

The 81,000-km network, first mooted by the UN way back in 1960, is also dubbed as the "Iron Silk Road". It would link capitals, ports and industrial hubs across 28 Asian countries all the way to Europe.

The ESCAP experts believe that port efficiency can be enhanced through the integration of rail and shipping to avoid port congestion, a key factor in Asia, which is home to 13 of the world 's top 20 container ports.

TAR is also crucial for landlocked countries whose access to world markets is heavily dependent on efficient links to the region 's main international ports. Twelve of the world's 30 landlocked countries are in Asia, and 10 are TAR members.

Source: Xinhua