Two female captive panda cubs, aged 2 and 3, who have been trained to survive in the wild, will be released into the Liziping Nature Reserve in Shimian county, Sichuan province, on Thursday.

The release of the panda cubs was confirmed by Zhang Hemin, chief of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, during the International Conference on Giant Panda Conservation.

Sponsored by Zhang's research center and the State Forestry Administration, the two-day event, which began on Wednesday, drew panda breeders and researchers from across the globe.