Bangkok - Laos will play host to the 17th annual Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum in Vientiane on January 11 to 15, officials confirmed Thursday.

"We are expecting over 300 delegates from 17 countries," said Lao Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy, in a telephone interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Laos, a communist country since 1975, is under a one-party system. The next general election will be in 2010, in conjunction with the 9th Party Congress of the Lao Communist Party.

The Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) was founded by former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone in January 1993.

The forum seeks to provide opportunities for national parliamentarians of the Asia-Pacific region to discuss matters of common concern and promote greater regional identification and cooperation in "peace, freedom, democracy, and prosperity," according to its policy statement.

New Zealand last hosted the APPF in January 2008. (dpa)