Bangladesh will join the Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR), aiming to expand its rail communications with other Asian countries, and subsequently with Europe in the near future, Bangladeshi daily The Financial Express reported Sunday.

The council of advisors of the Bangladeshi caretaker government approved the proposal for signing the TAR treaty at its weekly meeting Saturday.

"Bangladesh will soon sign the TAR agreement in New York," said an official handout.

The handout also said, "The main purpose of the TAR agreement was to establish communication network with the Asian nations, and gradually connecting to other European countries."

Under the agreement, three railway routes from the West Bengal state of India will pass through Bangladesh in the direction of Myanmar, it said.

The last date for signing the TAR treaty by other interested countries is Dec. 31, 2008.

The TAR is a project of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) to create an integrated freight railway network across Europe and Asia.

The project was initiated in the 1960s, with the objective of providing a continuous 8,750 miles (14,000 km) rail link between Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey with possible further connections to Europe and Africa.

Progress in developing the TAR was hindered by political and economic obstacles throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. By the 1990's, the end of the cold war and normalization of relations between some countries improved the prospect for creating a rail network across the Asian continent.

Source: Xinhua