India, Mongolia, Pakistan invited to join ASEM

Asian and European leaders said Sunday they would invite India, Mongolia and Pakistan as well as Bulgaria and Romania to join future gatherings of ASEM, a forum dedicated to dialogue between Europe and Asia.

"I am convinced that this enlargement will not only widen but also significantly deepen Asia-Europe relations," said Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen of Finland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

He made the invitation in a speech to leaders and top officials from 38 Asian and European nations gathered in Helsinki for two days of talks on trade and security issues.

The addition of the three Asian countries to the twice-yearly Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) will help lessen the imbalance in the forum, where the European Union's 25 members outweigh the 13 Asian countries currently in the club.

China, Korea, Japan and the 10 states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are the current ASEM members.

The EU will grow to 27 members next year if Bulgaria and Romania join the bloc as scheduled.

ASEM is widely seen as being long on talk and short on substance and is still trying to prove its relevance despite having 10 years of existence behind it.

The Helsinki summit marks the 10-year anniversary of ASEM, which started with a meeting in 1996 in Bangkok.