MINISTERS and senior officials from eight Asian countries began a meeting here on Friday morning to discuss and review the progress of the $23 billion rail link project that will run across these nations, linking Singapore to the south Chinese city of Kunming.

Asean wants the transnational railway to be running by 2015, when the 10-member grouping will convert itself into a European Union-style economic community. The region also hopes to have a free trade agreement with China fully in place by 2010.

The Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) project was proposed at the 5th Asean summit in December 1995 as a flagship project of the Asean-Mekong Basin Development Cooperation, but its progress has been hampered by financial and technical difficulties. The total cost of the project is estimated at nearly $23 billion. Asean nations are aiming to raise $3 billion this year.

Singapore's Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Raymond Lim opened the 9th special working group meeting on Friday morning at the Carlton Hotel.??

Chaired by Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, the meeting is to discuss the development and progress of the implementation of the SKRL project.

It is attended by officials from China, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as representatives from the Asean Secretariat, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (Unescap).

In his opening address, Minister Lim said the SKRL is an important part of the grouping's efforts to develop an efficient and integrated transport network in Asean.

'It will facilitate the rapid and seamless movement of people and goods among Asean countries, and enhance the connectivity of the region.

'Its completion will spur greater economic development and trade in Asean and will be a significant step towards the establishment of the Asean Economic Community, making Asean a more dynamic and competitive region,' he said.

'In the bigger scheme of things, the SKRL is part of the Trans Asian Railway network, connecting South-east Asia to the Asian mainland and onward to Europe.

'With enhanced rail connectivity, we will further strengthen people-to-people and economic linkages between Asean and its Asian neighbours.'

The railway will link Kunming, the capital of the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and then Singapore.

Separate lines will link Laos to Vietnam, and Myanmar to China. A rail link would also be built from Laos to central Vietnam, to link with the Singapore-Kunming line.