SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) -- A decades-long project to build the world＇ s longest highway system, ambitiously linking 32 Asian countries including the two Koreas, is likely to gather momentum as more countries prepare to ratify the plan, the U.N. office in charge of the project said Monday.

"The inter-governmental agreement on building the Asian Highway will be able to go into effect by Jan. 1, next year," Kim Hak-su, secretary general of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), told Yonhap News Agency.