A freeway linking Nanning, capital of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in south China, and Youyiguan, a land pass on the China-Vietnam border, will be ready for traffic before the 2nd Sino-ASEAN Expo scheduled to take place in the city in late October.

It will be the first freeway in China connecting to the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Upon completion, the traveling time from Nanning to Youyiguan Pass will be shortened by half, said a local official with the headquarters for construction of Nanning-Youyiguan freeway.

Starting from Wuxu of Nanning, the freeway, with a designed length of 170 km and four lanes, will be connected to the No.1 highway in Vietnam, a member of ASEAN. It has a budget of 3.7 billion yuan (US$446 million) for construction.

The ASEAN comprises Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines.

(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2005)