Country Focus The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2017 World Investment Report cited India as a “favourite FDI (foreign direct investment) destination”, after the US and China, based on responses of polled global multinational enterprises (MNEs). It was also ranked sixth “most promising home economies for 2017–2019” by investment promotion agencies (IPAs). Nevertheless, the country’s infrastructure pales in comparison with other developing Asian economies; and this has impacted the movement of goods and raw materials, communication, as well as trade and manufacturing costs, to cite a few inconveniences. Citing a 2013 PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) report, The Opportunities and Challenge of India’s Infrastructure, the country was noted to have underinvested in infrastructure over the previous decades, resulting in “deficits in critical areas such as railways, roads, ports, airports, telecommunication and electricity generation”. The pressure to improve the country’s infrastructure surmounts as population increases, urbanisation expands, and now with the SASEC in place, trade boom is inevitable. The SASEC has paved the way for India’s US$25 million road project involving the widening of a 65-km road between Manipur’s capital city, Imphal, and Moreh, a town situated on the India-Myanmar border. The road project is a key component in a greater regional infrastructure scheme, known as the 2002 initiated Asian Highway network. A regional transport cooperation, it aims to up efficiency and development of road infrastructure in Asia, to support the development of Euro-Asia transport linkages and enable connectivity for landlocked countries. Backed by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Asian Highway network comprises
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Steel Belts | Belt Systems | Worldwide Service The Asian Highway network comprises over 141,000 km of roads traversing 32 member countries