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The weekly cabinet meeting Monday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pursue the Asian Highway authority so that the latter agrees to Dhaka's proposal for an alternative route.
Meeting sources said, the cabinet also asked the same ministry to continue lobbying for extension of the deadline for ratifying the multinational pact.
A team headed by Additional Foreign Secretary Moniruzzaman is likely to attend Asian Highway Working Committee Meeting that begins tomorrow (Wednesday) in the Thai capital.
Bangladesh has been facing the risk of being cut off from the rest of the continent if it misses the deadline of December 31 to ratify the pact.
Dhaka has been opposing the proposed routes and been long trying for an alternative route - a major reason for not recognising the treaty.
In last June, the cabinet asked the communication ministry for further scrutiny of the agreement when the pro posal was raised.
As per the directive, the communication ministry collected opinions from the different ministries.
Among them, foreign ministry strongly favoured ratifying the treaty to take forward the country's 'Look East Policy" as well as thwarting the threat of isolation.
The Asian Highway has been recognised by 27 out of 32 member countries, including Japan, China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. All the South Asian nations except Bangladesh have already ratified the treaty.
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