China and Thailand will fund a bridge across the Mekong River which will make it possible to travel by road between the two countries via Laos, the Asian Development Bank said.

The bridge is scheduled for completion in 2011 and will cross the Mekong at the Thai-Laotian border between Chiang Khong in northern Thailand and Houayxay in Laos, ADB said in a statement.

The bridge represents It is the final link in a north-south road system through the Mekong region under development for more than a decade.

"When this vital bridge is completed, it will be possible for the first time to travel by land directly from (the Chinese province of ) Yunnan... through Laos to Thailand, opening up tremendous potential for increased trade, tourism, and further integration of the Mekong region," ADB vice president Lawrence Greenwood said in the statement.

The governments of China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam all signed an agreement on the project, ADB said.

The statement did not disclose the cost of the bridge.

The Mekong sub-region has achieved an average gross domestic product growth of around six percent in recent years, ADB added.