HANOI - Asian and European ministers are to jointly call for the release of Myanmar opposition democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a draft statement seen by AFP on Monday said.

"In light of the concern about the recent development to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, ministers... called for the early release of those under detention and the lifting of restriction placed on political parties," said the draft statement. It was prepared for the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hanoi which ends Tuesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial in military-ruled Myanmar where she faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating her house arrest after an incident in which an American man swam to her house.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has been in detention for 13 of the past 19 years since her National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in 1990 polls but was not allowed to take power.

ASEM's draft statement called on Myanmar to conduct elections planned for next year "in a free and fair manner" and said the future of Myanmar lay "in the hands of its people".

Myanmar was expected to come up for discussion at the ASEM meeting Monday night during a working dinner, delegates said.

Earlier, asked whether ASEM would make a statement about Myanmar, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda had told AFP that "one paragraph" in the planned statement was "the result of lots of consultations between Asian (countries), Europeans and with Myanmar as a direct partner."

Also earlier, Surin Pitsuwan, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), had said there were "some discussions going on" at the Asia-Europe meeting over Myanmar.

In a rare move, ASEAN last week issued an expression of "grave concern" over the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours traditionally prefer not to be seen as intervening in the affairs of their members.

On Monday Myanmar's junta accused neighbouring Thailand, which issued the ASEAN statement in its capacity as the bloc's chairman, of meddling in Myanmar's domestic politics, state media reported.

Asked for his reaction, Surin said: "I think you cannot deny that there is a rather strong sense of anxiety and that's something that ASEAN will have to find a way to address."

Myanmar belongs to the 10-member ASEAN bloc, as well as to ASEM.