Growth trends and quality issues in regional news media, convergence and challenge of the Internet, freedom, social responsibility, accountability, state, market and the media as well as media and foreign policy are some other key issues which will be addressed by the conference, an Indian leading newspaper reported yesterday.

The Hindu quoted Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna as saying that the conference is being organised as a build-up to the 14th Saarc summit to be held in New Delhi on April 3 and 4.

The Indian external affairs ministry and the Media Development Foundation, a not-for-profit public trust that runs the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai, are organising the conference.

Sarna said it was possibly the first time in the media field that such a public-private venture is being organised.

The media, he said, was developing very quickly in South Asia and a fruitful discussion could be held on several issues and trends in order to promote understanding among the peoples in the region.

The spokesman said the common platform provided by the external affairs ministry and Media Development Foundation would be used to bring together professional journalists and cover the print, broadcast and Internet media.

A concept note on the conference said the purpose behind the conference was to have a free and open discussion and frame media-related issues that can help initiate a wider public and civil society debate in South Asia.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon will deliver the inaugural address at the conference on February 9 while External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will attend the closing ceremony the next day.

Among the foreign participants expected to attend the conference are Kanak Mani Dixit, Yuvraj Ghimire and Narayan Wagle (from Nepal), Editor of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam, Shyamal Datta and Saiful Bari (Bangladesh), Rehana Hakim, Imran Aslam and Najam Sethi (Pakistan), Sonam Kinga, Tashi Phuntsho Wangdi and Dasho Kinley Dorji (Bhutan), Thavarajah, Jatila Wallabada, Singha Ranatunga (Sri Lanka), Abdullah Naeem and Mariyam Suhana (the Maldives) and Hamida Osman, Zaid Mohseni and Barry Salam (Afghanistan).

Indian editors who have confirmed their participation include N Ram, N Ravi, T N Ninan and Vinod Mehta, according to The Hindu.

Media Development Foundation Chairman Shashi Kumar will be the moderator at the conference.