ISLAMABAD, April 27: South Asian Free Media Association (Safma) and the South Asian Journal are holding a two-day conference in Islamabad to initiate an interaction of experts for the South Asian Policy Analysis (Sapana) Network.

Titled Envisioning South Asia and to be held on April 29-30, 2006, the South Asian Journal Conference will convene seven delegates from Bangladesh, six each from Nepal and Sri Lanka, 30 from India and 20 from Pakistan.

Sapana, a non-partisan, South Asia-wide research and policy analysis network, is to be the first independent South Asian think-thank in the region and is expected to play an influential role in guiding discussion, analysis and policy both in South Asia and outside the region, Akbar Zaidi, the coordinator of Sapana said.

Sapana comprises 14 research groups, which have undertaken research, critically analysed current policies, and recommended policy alternatives in trade and tariffs in South Asia, custom laws and issues: standardisation and harmonisation, macroeconomic coordination, poverty alleviation and the Saarc Social Charter, regional economic cooperation: investments and joint projects, communications and physical infrastructure: issues and links, energy infrastructure, issues of water, nuclear stabilization and regional security arrangements, a South Asian conflict resolution mechanism, South Asian political integration and a South Asian parliament, re-writing South Asian history, religious intolerance and WTO and South Asia.

Dr AR Kemal, Dr Rajesh Mehta, Amir Ullah Khan, Nephil Maskay, Douglas Jayasekera, Prof. Mukherji, Prabir Purkayastha, Dr Ponna Wignaraja, Ananya Raihan, Dr Akmal Hussain, Prof. Moonis Ahmar, Ejaz Haider, Prof. Ameena Mohsin, Prof. S. D. Muni, Prof. Visalakshi Menon, Salman Raja, Rashid Jallundhari, Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed, Hasan Askari Rizvi, Prof Zoya Hasan and S. Akbar Zaidi are among more than 50 experts who will present their research-based policy analysis papers before the South Asian Journal Conference.

Safma Secretary General Imtiaz Alam will speak on Safma’s Sapana Initiative.

Salman Shah, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Finance, will open the conference. Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Minister for Foreign Affairs, will be the chief guest at the concluding ceremony.