The Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Economic Development Association said here on Monday that Vietnam will hold the development cooperation forum Mekong 2009 later this year.

The forum is organized by the association in coordination with Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies, according to a press release here.

The forum is aimed at intensifing trade and investment promotion and strengthen friendship among countries in the Greater Mekong sub-region (GMS) in particular and with other countries outside the sub-region in general, said chairman of the association Lai Quang Thuc at the press conference.

The forum will include two international conferences. The first conference, themed in overcoming crisis, orientating to a sustainable and dynamic Mekong sub-region, will be held in Hanoi on Nov. 30. The second one, themed in orientating to a dynamic Mekong investment sub-region, will be held in Ho Chi Minh City on Dec. 10, said Lai Quang Thuc.

The conferences will create a chance for businesses to exchange information and seek partners on investment cooperation, said Nguyen Xuan Trung, vice head of the Foreign Investment Department under Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment here.

Discussions at these conferences will focus on investment policies in the Mekong sub-region, opportunities and challenges that countries in the sub-region are facing, measures to boost Japan's investment in the sub-region and incentives for foreign investors in infrastructure and human resources development in the sub-region, said Nguyen Xuan Trung.