(SINGAPORE) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd Tuesday pushed ahead with his vision of an Asia Pacific Community but played down comparisons with the European Union following criticism from his predecessors.

Speaking to diplomats, academics, business executives and students at a public lecture in Singapore, Rudd said his proposal, first floated in June, remained a concept at this stage.

As the centre of political and economic power shifts from the West to the Asia Pacific, Rudd argued it was time to start discussions about "regional architecture" that will cover the region by 2020.

Current institutions such as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were limited and the 16-member East Asia Summit excluded global power the United States, he said.

The wider Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which includes the United States, is confined to discussions on trade matters and does not cover Asian giant India.

Rudd said his proposal is for a mechanism that will allow regional powers such as China, India, the US, Japan and South Korea as well as smaller states to talk about a wide range of issues from climate change to security cooperation, economic liberalisation and national disaster management.

"I think we need to think beyond the square... by having an institution that facilitates that sort of cooperation across the policy spaces rather than one specifically constrained to economic mandate," he said.

But Rudd, who had earlier said Asia could learn from the European experience, moved away from comparisons between his proposal and the European Union.

"In developing this discussion... let's be clear what an Asia Pacific Community is not," he said.

"It is not an economic union, it is not a monetary union, it is not at this stage even a customs union. It is a concept and it is certainly not a political union," he added, in a clear reference to the EU.

Former Australian prime ministers Paul Keating and Bob Hawke, both members of Rudd's centre-left Labor Party, had criticised the Asia Pacific Community proposal, saying an EU-style model was inappropriate for Asia.

Rudd said an "open dialogue and discussion" about his proposal is the "first step" towards determining what type of regional mechanism is appropriate for Asia.

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