Bangkok - Parliamentarians from 22 Asian countries gathered in Vientiane, Laos, on Monday to attend the 17th annual Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), a get-together founded by former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, media reports said.

"The Asia-Pacific region has more than half the world's population and is rich in natural resources," said Thongsing Thammavong, chairman of the Lao National Assembly and the chair of the forum.

"This rich region can help overcome the world's economic problems," said Thongsing in his opening remarks, as reported by Radio Laos in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok.

Nakasone, who founded the APPF in January 1993, noted that the world faces numerous "challenges" this year, triggered by the financial crisis in the US.

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.

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. (dpa)