The appeal followed heavy lobbying for the Asia-Europe Meeting here, chaired by Myanmar’s ally China and attended by leaders from more than 40 countries, to come out strongly in support of democratic freedoms in the country.

“(Leaders) encouraged the Myanmar government to engage all stakeholders in an inclusive political process in order to achieve national reconciliation and economic and social development,” they said in a joint statement.

“In this regard, they called for the lifting of restrictions placed on political parties and early further release of those under detention.”

The call marked the latest pressure applied to the junta, which has ruled the country since 1962 and crushed large-scale democracy protests led by Buddhist monks in September last year.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told AFP in an interview the mention of Myanmar in the joint statement showed progress on the issue.

“It’s important to note, there is a clear reference for the need to release political prisoners, which was accepted by the Asian side,” he said.

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution calling on the summit to jointly appeal to the junta to release political prisoners.

The resolution, adopted unanimously, denounced “the arbitrary charges behind the arrests of many dissidents and the harsh conditions of detention,” including widespread use of torture and hard labour.”

Myanmar’s National League of Democracy, led by opposition figure and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said on Saturday that six of its members had been given long prison terms for their part in last year’s demonstrations.

About 200 NLD members were detained during and after last year’s “Saffron Revolution,” so called for the colour of the monks’ robes.

The protests began sporadically in August last year over a hike in fuel prices, but quickly escalated with 100,000 people eventually taking to the streets in the biggest uprising since 1988.

Myanmar’s military regime launched a crackdown on September 26, killing 31 people, according to the United Nations, including a Japanese journalist.

The European MPs, meeting in Strasbourg, condemned “the fact that the number of political prisoners has increased from 1,300 to 2,000 in the aftermath” of the demonstrations.”

They also criticised the continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and called for her immediate release.

Led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the NLD won a landslide victory in the last elections in 1990 but the junta never allowed them to take office. She has spent most of the intervening years under house arrest.

The European Union’s Special Envoy for Myanmar, Piero Fassino of Italy, on Friday also urged the junta to release the democracy icon.

Her freedom “would pave the way for the opening of a dialogue between the military junta, the democratic opposition and the ethnic minorities,” he said in a statement in Rome.

He said that was the only way to achieve “national reconciliation in Myanmar and a real democratic transition.”

The ruling generals extended her house arrest by one year in May, provoking an international outcry. Myanmar is under US and European economic sanctions over its failure to move towards democracy.

The junta introduced a new constitution after a much-criticised referendum was held in May in the wake of a deadly cyclone that swept across the country.

The constitution paves the way for multi-party elections to be held in 2010 but bars Aung San Suu Kyi from standing.