European leaders on Sunday called on their Asian counterparts to help stop workers being exploited and let them profit more from the globalisation that has turned Asia into an economic powerhouse.

"To maximise the benefits of globalisation and mitigate its potential adverse impact, there is a need to strengthen the social dimension," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told leaders and top officials from 38 Asian and European nations at a summit in Helsinki.

"Appropriate economic, education, employment and social policies should be implemented to... promote the interdependent objectives of productivity growth, job creation, decent work and social cohesion," he said in a speech.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), held every two years, rarely produces any concrete decisions but officials promised that this year a "strong message" on global warming would be included in the gathering's final statement on Monday.

"The basic idea is to find a platform for work after 2012," the target date for the UN's Kyoto Protocol on reducing the world's greenhouse gas emissions, said a senior official from Finland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

The 25-nation European Union, both curious and cautious about Asia's growing role in world affairs, was hosting leaders from China, Korea, Japan and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

They were discussing issues ranging from trade to security at the summit.

The Finnish presidency kicked off the two-day meeting by saying it had pressed Myanmar to improve its human rights and democracy record.

"We regretted the lack of tangible progress in the process of national reconciliation," Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told reporters, adding that the EU was calling for "the release of all political prisoners" in the country.

Despite criticism from human rights groups, Finland made an exception to an EU visa ban on officials from Myanmar's military junta so that Foreign Minister U Nyan Win could attend the ASEM meeting.

On trade, Barroso also told ASEM delegates that the WTO talks on liberalising global commerce -- which ground to an acrimonious halt in July -- must urgently be resumed.

"We must resume the round without delay," Barroso said. "Other trade arrangements between regions and countries must be complementary to the multilateral trading system."

Bilateral trade deals between the EU and ASEAN states and between Europe and South Korea were also on the agenda at the Helsinki summit.

Prime Minister Vanhanen in a speech reminded his listeners that "today ASEM partners represent 40 percent of the world's population, 50 percent of global GDP and 60 percent of world trade."

But the balance of trade is rapidly moving in Asia's favour, in particular due to the meteoric economic rise of China. EU leaders are also keen to rival powerful US influence in a region where a few decades ago several European states possessed colonies.

Europe would also like to get China, which has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, on its side on issues such as Iran's nuclear programme.

Security issues ranging from North Korea's missiles and Iran's atomic ambitions to ensuring a steady supply of energy to fuel the two regions' economies, were also being discussed.

South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun was expected to try to sell his idea of a multilateral security system for northeast Asia as well as reiterating Seoul's stance on North Korea's nuclear policy and its recent missile tests.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said the international community must make a "determined response" to the nuclear development programmes of both North Korea and Iran.

Five more countries -- India, Mongolia, Pakistan, Bulgaria and Romania -- were on Sunday invited to join the ASEM club.

French President Jacques Chirac provided a moment of light relief at the summit when, in off-the-cuff remarks picked up by television crews, he described Prime Minister Vanhanen as "the sexiest man in Finland."