The government needs an approval from the cabinet before ratifying the convention, and there is no sign yet of a likely approval though the deadline for the ratification is December 31of this year, according to sources in the ministry of communications.

The Asian Highway network would connect 32 Asian countries with Europe. All the countries concerned except five are yet to ratify the convention.

Bangladesh tried to bring a change in the proposed route of the highway, but there is no sign of any development in this regard. China, which Dhaka had approached for backing its proposal, expressed reluctance to do so showing a time constraint, the source said.

Both the entry and exit points on the existing Asian Highway linking Bangladesh with India fall into Indian territory, and Bangladesh fears that it would turn into a transit route for India, which would go against the official position of the BNP led four party ruling alliance.

As a result, Dhaka is pursuing the neighbouring countries to bring a change in the proposed route and to open up another road through Myanmar, which would give it an alternative.

It wants to integrate the proposed direct road link between Dhaka and Yangon into the Asian Highway.

Although Bangladesh extended a helping hand to Yangon by promising to take part in developing a portion of the road, Myanmar is yet to show any indication that it would support Dhaka in its bid to bring changes in the route of the Asian Highway, the source said.

Meanwhile, Beijing in a letter to Dhaka declined to raise the issue of a route change in the next working committee meeting of the UN-Escap on December 14-15.

An inter-ministerial meeting in October had decided to approach three friendly nations for raising the issue on behalf of Dhaka. The other two countries are Thailand and Myanmar.

Former director (transport) of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Escap) Dr Rahmatullah, however, does not see much importance in China's rejection.

He said China has nothing to do on this subject because it is not directly involved with Bangladesh in establishing the highway. Rather, Myanmar is much more important for bringing the change in the route because the changed route would go through it.

He said Myanmar is the main party concerned in this regard and Bangladesh should pursue Yangon for declaring the proposed Dhaka-Yangon road as part of the Asian Highway. The Escap former director also rejected the existing apprehension in the government circle that joining the Asian Highway would mean giving transit to India.

According to him, the highway is just an international road network and there should be separate agreements for transporting goods and passengers between the countries concerned.

"If a country ratifies the Asian Highway agreement, it does not mean it is bound to allow transportation of goods or passengers to any country by road," he pointed out.

According to experts, Bangladesh would miss out on a large amount of revenue and investments if left out of the highway network, as goods would be transported from Tokyo to Istanbul through it. Investors would also think twice about investing money in Bangladesh as it would not be connected with its neighbours by roads, they said.