KHAIRPUR: The 15th International Conference on Statistical Sciences (ICSS-15) inaugurated at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur on Thursday was organized by the Department of Statistics in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission, Islamabad. Prof. Dr. Parveen Shah, Vice Chancellor of the university inaugurated the conference while Prof. Dr. Munir Ahmed, Founding President and Patron of the Islamic Countries Society of Statistical Sciences was the chief guest on this occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Dr. Parveen Shah said statistics is an indispensable tool for national development, growth, and planning. A government without viable infrastructure for information generation, dissemination, and usage is severely handicapped; unable to do proper planning, monitoring, or evaluation of development programs and projects. It is also handicapped in being able to arrive at a good decision with respect to their government policy formation. Governments at all levels should embark on building a very viable information system in order to have adequate statistical information for designing a formidable social and economic policy. It has been advocated that the national statistical system in any country should get more attention if the country is to have an orderly and definite development program. The Vice Chancellor remarked that as a developing country, Pakistan is marching on the road toward modernization. It has been a century-long pursuit for the people of Pakistan to revitalize their country through the development of science and education. This process was further accelerated by reform and ‘opening up’ policies, as both young talents and accomplished experts emerged in great numbers onto the international scientific scene. Prof. Shah asserted, “our university has fully supported and encouraged all endeavors to pursue this development, including a series of programs launched to promote basic scientific research including Statistics. Science knows no boundaries.” It is Prof. Dr. Munir Ahmed’s belief that Pakistan has great potential which could be utilized in making it more prosperous, but planning without statistics is futile. Statistics is the source of planning and evaluation, without statistics, one cannot monitor projects. Dr. Munir added that statistics and census are of crucial importance for governing, population, and politics. Statistics and census have prominence in government, and technologies in various aspects of national, political, and demographic domains. The role of statistics is vital in the arrangements of the census. He emphasised that academics must be involved in producing quality education – with commitment and devotion, we can utilize resources for nation building. He said, at this juncture, the Muslim world is not proficient in capacity building and technology therefore it is necessary to revive past glory. Earlier, Prof. Dr. Mumtaz Hussain Mahar, Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences, presented his welcome address. He shared that out of 100 research papers received, 65 were being presented in the conference after being reviewed. He believed that the conference will produce a far reaching impact on statistical sciences and appreciated the contributed of Dr. Parveen Shah in the advancement of research and development at the campus. Prof. Dr. S. M. Zia, Chairman of the Department of Statistics, Prof. Dr. Inam Khokhar from USA, Dr. Muzammil from Sudan, Dr. Faisal Zahid from Germany and the scholars from Swat to Karachi were all participating. Prof. Dr. Noor Ahmed Shaikh, Pro-Vice Chancellor, Main Campus, Prof. Dr. Syed Noor Shah Bukhari,, Director, Ghotki Campus, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Yousuf Khushk, Dean, Faculty of Arts & Languages, Prof. Dr. Badaruddin Memon, Dean, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Prof. Dr. Ali Dino Jumani, Prof. Dr. Ghulam Ali Mallah, Prof. Dr. Taj Muhammad Lashari, Prof. Dr. Mir Munsif Ali Talpur, teachers, scholars and students attended the inaugural session of the conference.