Think tanks from China and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries said on Friday that efforts should be made to speed up the construction of the Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor (NSEC).

The economic corridor is a system of highways and railways connecting major Southeast Asian cities such as Hanoi, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur.

The transport network, first proposed by experts and political leaders at the Pan-Beibu Gulf (PBG) Economic Cooperation Forum in 2006, has largely stalled due to unresolved funding issues and different transport infrastructure conditions in different countries.

The Declaration of PBG Think Tank Summit issued Friday in Nanning, capital of southwest Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, stated that the corridor is an integral part of the sub-regional PBG Economic Cooperation under the China-ASEAN cooperation framework, and that industrial investment, logistical cooperation, and cross-border cooperation are ways to accelerate construction.

Economic ties between China and ASEAN have been strengthening since the launch of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area on Jan. 1 last year. Bilateral trade in 2010 jumped 36 percent year-on-year to exceed 290 billion U.S. dollars.