KARACHI, Dec 11: The Sociology Department of Karachi University and the Population Association of Pakistan will hold a three-day research conference on "Sharing population and development research across South and West Asia" from Dec 14.

Federal Population Welfare Minister Chaudhry Shahbaz is expected to be the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony.

The conference, being funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, UNFPA, USAID and the DFID, will comprise 16 plenary and scientific sessions and four discussion sessions.

Talking to Dawn, the chairman of the Sociology department, Dr Fateh M Burfet, said about 50 papers would be presented by delegates from Iran, India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan at the conference. Delegates from abroad have started reaching Karachi, Mr Burfet informed.

Speakers at the inaugural session include representatives of USAID, DFID, UNFPA Paki-stan, and Population Association of Pakistan. The topics of papers and discussions include fertility and family planning; mortality and health transition; migration and urbanization; population and poverty; capacity building and resource mobilization.