Information Minister Tariqul Islam opened the first ever such conference at Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.

"We know that newspapers in other Saarc countries as well are run predominantly by private enterprises. Yet, we are convinced that the government has a big part to play in promoting the industry, developing the professional bearings of journalists and the networking of close contacts among media professionals in the region," he said.

"We hope that governments will pursue he right course in that direction under the framework of Saarc," he said.

Editor of The News of Pakistan Selim Bukhari, Editor of the Nepalese daily The Kantipur Yaba Raj, Editor of the Kuencel newspaper of Bhutan Ligyen Penjor, Director of Saarc Secretariat PB Shah, Principal Information Officer of Bangladesh government Khondokar Monirul Alam and Director General of External Publicity Wing Zahirul Haq also spoke.

Information Secretary Nazml Alam Siddiqui chaired the inaugural function of the conference, hosted by the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Senior Journalists and editors including Enayetuallh Khan of the New Age, Reazuddin Ahmed of the News Today, Mahbubul Alam of the Independent, Amanullah Kabir of Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS), Mahfuz Anam of The Daily Star and Shafiq Rehman of the Jai Jai Din were present.

The conference is expected to review issues ranging from the working condition for media workers in South Asia, the comparative assessment of the state-run media and the private enterprise, the media's overall impact on promotion of regional co-operation to cross-border media initiatives and free flow of information.

The conference came months after Dhaka hosted the South Asia Free Media Association to help the region move toward materialising its goals concerning the media sector.

The information minister said Bangladesh had undertaken an unequivocal stand in the area of media, journalism and freedom of press. "Since independence, newspapers in Bangladesh had overcome many hurdles and are now enjoying absolute freedom," he said.