Conclusion

Asia's economic performance since the last decade, particularly in the first half of the ongoing decade, has been commendable. Undoubtedly, Asia is a major economic force in the world. Accompanying this rise is the need for efficient regional infrastructures to meet the increasing demand of production and consumption, as well as that of international trade. Any slowdown or failure in responding to this demand will necessarily impact the growth and hamper trade and poverty reduction efforts in the region. Asia's growth potential will only be realized if it can ensure that its infrastructure does not become a severe handicap.

Nevertheless, the quality and capacity of Asia's infrastructure, both on the national and cross-border levels, is certainly a matter of concern.

The lack of regional connectivity is one of the major constraints hindering the full potential of regional growth and economic integration in Asia. Strong regional cooperation among Asian countries is essential for establishing Asia-wide physical connectivity and economic integration.

In order to move towards a fully integrated Asia, a comprehensive approach is needed to address the physical infrastructure issues, including roads, rail, inland waterways, maritime transport, dry ports, airports, seaports, and information and communication technology, as well as the non-physical soft infrastructure issues, including cross-border transit facilitation measures; customs clearance, and other facilitating polices and regulations. Addressing these issues, requires collaborative efforts among Asian countries, multilateral development banks, the United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, bilateral donor agencies, private sectors and professional associations. In particular, high-level policy direction and commitments are important for the successful restoration of the Silk Road providing mutually beneficial regional transport infrastructure and services in the Asian region and beyond. In this regard, a commonly agreed strategic regional transport policy and an associated plan are needed to facilitate closer cooperation for re-establishing the Silk Road and achieving an integrated Asia.

The ways and means to achieve the goal of Asia-wide connectivity need to be fine tuned, taking into consideration the experience of the last decade. The core issues that need to be addressed are reaching a consensus on how the subregional transport networks can be integrated with pan-Asian networks such as the TAR and AH without compromising subregional infrastructure needs and formulating and implementing an Asia-wide trade facilitation mechanism, either by acceding the international conventions or through a regional arrangement with full conformity to international conventions. Factors that need to be considered to address these core issues are as follows:

• further enhancing policies and regulations by providing a better balance of national, subregional, and regional transport networks;
• encouraging financing to counter rising demands for funds for regional transport projects;
• developing intermodality in transport network development;
• focusing on nonphysical barriers to trade across networks; and
• mobilizing private sector's fund and ensuring its participation in operations and maintenance.

The three key messages in this paper are: subregional transport projects have enabled cooperation among the countries by improving the efficiency of transport and creating a favorable climate for dialogue and exchange of information; for the benefits of the regional projects, trade facilitation across Asia should be expedited; and enabling policy reforms is needed to encourage private sector participation in regional projects. In view of the ongoing crisis, it is crucial for sustainable regional growth and prosperity that Asian countries be better connected.

Finally, the trade and income gains of large economies in Asia like Japan, the PRC, India, and Korea through rebuilding Asia's transportation infrastructure and associated software will be substantial in absolute value. However, the gain of smaller economies will be proportionality large compared to their economic sizes. Now it is the time for Asia to further enhance its economic integration process, setting in place improved pan-Asia infrastructure and extending supports towards capacity building in smaller and vulnerable economies in the region.

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