Three countries, including India, have pulled out of an important regional conference being held in Pakistan on sustainable development. The other two countries that have pulled out of the conference are Bangladesh and Iran.

The three-day session of the Governing Council of the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT), which began on Monday in Islamabad, seeks to promote innovation for sustainable development and discuss strategy of the council. It advises on the future and reviews the working of the centre located in India under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

APCTT is a specialised regional Institute of the United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UN-ESCAP), based in New Delhi. A team from India has been sent to Islamabad to look after management-related issues for the three-day conference.

Officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, which is hosting the 12th Governing Council of the APCTT, had initially confirmed that India would participate in the conference, but later announced that India had decided to pull out, the Press Trust of India reported citing the Express Tribune.

"Just hours before the meeting was due to start, the Indian delegation cancelled their trip saying that their head delegate had contracted food poisoning," the official said. All 14 members of the APCTT were reportedly invited, but India, Bangladesh and Iran decided to pull out of the conference that is held once a year.

The other 11 member countries attending the meeting are China, Fiji, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to the media report, the meeting will decide on projects to be worked on in 2017. Of the five projects, India has submitted one titled, 'Feed the Future India' – a project that aims to increase food security in the least-developed countries by establishing an agricultural innovation accelerator platform in India with USAID funding of $1.5 million.

India had also boycotted the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that was to be held in Islamabad in November. India's boycotting of events and conferences being hosted in Pakistan seem to be an attempt to isolate the neighbouring country on the international platform.