Helsinki, Sep 10 (DPA) European Union and Asian leaders at their meeting here Sunday were set to extend the ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) membership to include India and Pakistan, Finnish diplomats said.

Ending years of controversy, ASEM members are expected to agree that India and Pakistan as well as Mongolia and the secretariat of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) can immediately join the Asia-Europe dialogue launched in Bangkok in 1996.

European governments have long argued that India and Pakistan should be in ASEM to make the forum truly representative of Asia.

But several Asian countries had earlier opposed the move, arguing that extending ASEM would make the already large grouping even more unwieldy.

The EU is also using the current ASEM summit to press Myanmar to improve human rights and implement democratic reforms. Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen was due to formally outline the EU position on Myanmar at the ASEM meeting.

Finnish officials - representing the current EU presidency - said the two-day summit would issue a joint call for action on combating global warming, including speeding up UN negotiations on climate change after the 2012 expiry of the current Kyoto Protocol.

Current Asian members include Japan, China and South Korea plus the 10 countries of ASEAN. In addition to the 25 EU states, the European Commission is also member of ASEM.