Monday, April 11 2005 10:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: In a bid to further boost booming Sino-Indian trade, China has started renovation of the historic Stilwell Road connecting its Yunnan Province to Myanmar and India, the State media reported today (Apr 11, 2005).

Early surveys have been made and a detailed renovation plan is expected to be finalised by the end of this month, 'China Daily' reported.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is currently in New Delhi for high-level talks with the Indian leadership.

After the reopening of the road, built during World War II, the distance from Baoshan, a border city in Yunnan, via Myitkyina in Myanmar, to Ledo in India will be a touch above 500 km, the daily quoted sources in the Yunnan provincial Government as saying.

And the distance between Kunming, capital of Yunnan, and Ledo, a railway hub in northeastern India, will be 1,220 km.

At present, trade between Yunnan and India has to follow a convoluted route from Kunming to Zhanjiang port in Guangdong province then to be loaded onto ships bound for the Malacca Straits and India - a total of 6,000 km.