The revival of the Silk route with the help of funds from the European Union (EU) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will seek to provide modern transportation facilities along the route that has been named the Europe-Caucasus-Central Asia Transport Corridor (Traceca).

New trade links are being worked out now through the old route that stretches from Uzbekistan, north of Afghanistan, through Central Asia into Turkey and thereon to the Mediterranean.

Proposals on the new route, lying a little north of Afghanistan, were agreed to at a conference in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, last week. The conference was attended by 700 delegates from more than 30 countries of Europe and Asia. Several states were represented by their presidents, among them Kirgizia, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, Georgia, Uzbekistan,Turkey and Bulgaria. Russia was represented by its deputy transport minister.

The new route will have "historical strategic significance" for South Asia, a senior Indian official told IANS. "Over a period of time this has the potential to restrict Pakistani ambitions of taking a dominant role in Central Asia by offering itself as a trade corridor," he said.

A new route along the old Silk route will seek to provide direct and modern transportation along the East-West corridor.

This, officials say, will diminish the attractiveness of a "north-south trade corridor through Afghanistan and Pakistan." The Central Asian republics are becoming increasingly significant to the West, particularly because of their rich reserves of oil and natural gas. Huge reserves have been found in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Significant gold reserves have been found in Kyrghyzstan and uranium in Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan has set up an internationalconsortium which has embarked on a $12 billion oil and gas project.

The Silk route fell into disuse after the discovery of the sea route to India by Portuguese voyager Vasco da Gama in 1497. The route that cuts through what are the new Central Asian republics west towards Europe fell out of use following that and is at present only of some tourism interest.

The ADB has already approved a $70-million loan towards improving the rail link along the route between Chengeldy, north of the Uzbek capital Tashkent, and the ancient city of Samarkhand. "This is one of the oldest railway lines in the region and lies at the heart of the Central Asian republics so, strategically, this project is expected to increase both domestic and international trade," according to Allan Lee, who heads the project for the ADB. This 320-km stretch of the railway is due to be completed by 2003.

The Traceca is considered of fundamental importance to the countries of theCentral Asian region by the EU. Many of the nations are landlocked and the Traceca offers them the shortest and cheapest access to customers in Europe.

The proposal for Traceca, which links Central Asia with Europe via the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, was first put forward by the EU in 1993. Francois Lamoureux, Deputy Director-General in the EU, is coordinating the westward extension of the corridor into the Balkans and Central Europe.

The EU has spent more than $50 million so far on projects to revive the ancient route. It has set up a secretariat to oversee completion of the project, which includes coordinated setting up of road, rail and sea links with streamlined customs procedures and documentation. The EU has signed transpot agreements already with all the countries of the region.