Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring

April 27, 2003, Sunday

LENGTH: 173 words
HEADLINE: Vietnam opens new section of Trans-Asia Route
SOURCE: VNA news agency web site, Hanoi, in English 26 Apr 03
BODY:
Text of report in English by Vietnamese news agency VNA web site
Ho Chi Minh City, 26 April: The Ministry of Transport and
Communications held a ceremony on Saturday opening a segment of the
Trans-Asia Route from An Suong in Ho Chi Minh HCM City to the Moc Bai
border gate in Tay Ninh province. Prime Minister Phan Van Khai
attended and cut the ribbon.
The section from HCM City to Cambodia's Phnom Penh is a project under
the extended Mekong River programme initiated by the Asian Development
Bank (ADB), which aims to boost economic exchange among the countries
in the Mekong sub-region comprising Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.
The road's section in Vietnam is 80 km long and costs 144.77m US
dollars, including 100m US dollars in ADB's loans.
Speaking at the ceremony, PM Khai thanked the ADB for its credit
facility to help the project be completed on schedule. He called on
countries in the region to accelerate construction pace of the
Trans-Asia Route to further socioeconomic development in the region.
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