The delegation started the journey from Kunming, capital of the Chinese western province Yunnan on December 1 by two cars, but got stuck at the China-Myanmar border on December 6 as the Myanmar authorities deny them entry with their vehicles.

They could not manage the permission from the Myanmar authorities after waiting for five days at Ruili, a China-Myanmar border point.

As a result, only three out of the total eight-member delegation crossed the border and started the journey again by a rented vehicle. The other five went back to Kunming from the border point, according to the message sent by the delegation to their Bangladeshi counterparts.

The present three-member delegation is likely to reach the Teknaf point today or tomorrow.

The main objective of the delegation was to conduct a survey and see the existing road condition for reviving the route for tourism.

The delegation will hire another car in Bangladesh after crossing the river Naf and will reach Dhaka on December 14. They also cancelled their scheduled visit to North Bengal and Benapole.

The delegation will go back to Kunming by air instead of by road, according to their revised schedule.

The visit was part of the Kunming initiative that was taken by the civil society members of Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar in Kunming in 1999 to strengthen cooperation between the countries along the ancient silk route. The initiative later turned to Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar (BCIM) economic forum in 2000.

The civil societies of the four countries already hosted four meetings in the first round of the negotiations. The second meeting of the second round negotiations will be held in New Delhi in March 2006.