The ministers from 41 Asia-Pacific nations adopted a declaration on improving road safety aimed at slashing the number of deaths by 600,000 over the next nine years.

The commitment came at the end of a two-day ministerial meeting on transport, organised by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) in the southern port of Busan.

UNESCAP estimates that last year 440,000 people died and at least two million were injured on roads in the Asia-Pacific region although it has only one in five of the world's motor vehicles.

The ministers expressed concern that "about half of all road traffic fatalities and injuries worldwide occur in the Asian and Pacific region" in a declaration issued at the Busan meeting.

The ministers "resolve to save 600,000 lives and to prevent a commensurate number of serious injuries on the roads of Asia and the Pacific over the period 2007 to 2015", read the declaration.

Asia-Pacific states have submitted their own road safety targets to meet the regional goal, UNESCAP officials said.

"The peer pressure, we believe, will help promote this cooperational activity," said Barry Cable, head of UNESCAP's Transport and Tourism Division.

The Bangkok-based UN body estimates that by 2020, unless something is done, two-thirds of the world's road deaths will be in the Asia-Pacific region.

Traffic accidents are the second largest cause of death for young people -- mostly young men -- aged between five and 29 globally, according to the World Health Organisation.

Road fatalities "are preventable by governments giving stronger political commitment and implementing more effective policies," UNESCAP chief Kim Hak-Su said in his message to the forum.

Road safety has been a key issue of concern since the UN-backed Asian Highway network project came into force in 2005 to connect all major trunk roads in the Asia-Pacific region.