KARACHI, Dec 13: A three-day international conference to promote and strengthen regional cooperation in research and policy development in the discipline of population across South and West Asia will be held in the University of Karachi on Dec 14.

Briefing the newsmen about the conference on behalf of the organizers, KU sociology department's chairman Dr Fateh M. Burfet on Monday said that the research moot was being held annually by the Population Association of Pakistan (PAP) for the last five years with the objective to promote and strengthen the discipline of population by providing a forum to subject experts and demographers.

The purpose of holding the conference was to share the research works being carried out at the universities and by some population oriented institutions in the region, he said, adding that experts from India, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal and the USA have confirmed their participation in the conference, which would be inaugurated by Federal Minister for Population Welfare Chaudhry Shahbaz Hussain.

Dr Burfet informed the newsmen that majority of the population research sharing conference had been organized by public sector universities under the umbrella of PAP which also arranged funds to meet the organizational expenditures of the conference.

He said that the researches on population, preparation of policies in the light of the researches and implementation of the policies were necessary to address the issues of population growth rate, poverty and maternal health. The sharing of experiences among scholars and professionals would help capitalizing on strength and achievements, added the co-organizer.

The speakers of the first-day sessions of the conference included Dr Peter Xenos of the East West Centre, the University of Hawaii; Dr Barkat-i-Khuda from Bangladesh, Dr Moneer Alam from India, Dr M. Jalal Abbasi from Iran; Dr Sharon Epstein from the USA, and Kaiser Bengali, Dr Sadiqua N. Jaffery, Dr Mehtab S. Karim, Dr Khalid Mushtaq from various cities of Pakistan.

About 150 research papers were received for the conference, out of which about 50 have been cleared by a committee of experts for presentation during the conference. In addition to various technical sessions, poster presentations, panel discussions are also figured in the conference which would conclude on Dec 16.