The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations also withdrew an invitation to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who was scheduled to address an expanded summit on Wednesday, which will also include the leaders of China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

But in a strongly worded statement issued Monday, ASEAN leaders urged Myanmar's junta to open a "meaningful dialogue" with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, release her from house arrest, free all political detainees and work toward a "peaceful transition to democracy."

"It is a very difficult matter. It is a difficult problem for Myanmar," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the chairman of ASEAN, told reporters after reading out the statement.

Lee had invited Gambari to address the East Asian Summit on Wednesday about the progress he has made in his meetings with Myanmar's junta in recent weeks. The junta has been condemned globally for its crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators in late September that claimed at least 15 lives.

During a dinner meeting of ASEAN leaders on Monday night, Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein insisted Gambari should only report to the United Nations and not to ASEAN or the East Asia Summit, said Lee.

Lee said Singapore would instead facilitate meetings between Gambari and individual leaders.

"Most leaders expressed the view that Myanmar could not go back or stay put," he said. "The process of national reconciliation had to move forward and UN played a vital role in this process."

Earlier, the Philippines warned it was unlikely to ratify the ASEAN Charter unless Myanmar restores democracy and frees Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years.

The unexpected ultimatum by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was a clear sign that Myanmar continues to hamper progress by ASEAN, which touts the charter as a testament to its growing integration.

"The expectation of the Philippines is that if Myanmar signs the charter, it is committed to returning to the path of democracy and releasing Aung San Suu Kyi," Arroyo told Myanmar's Thein Sein during a one-on-one meeting.

"Until the Philippine Congress sees that happen, it would have extreme difficulty in ratifying the ... charter," Arroyo said at the meeting, held before an ASEAN summit Tuesday.

For the charter to take effect, it must be ratified by parliaments of member countries, a process likely to take a year.

The charter will fail if one country fails to ratify it.

The long-overdue ASEAN Charter is aimed at formally turning the 40-year-old organization - often derided as a powerless talk shop - into a rules-based legal entity. That means ASEAN can sue and be sued under the charter, and will be held accountable for all the treaties and agreements it signs. It will also set up enforceable financial, trade and environmental rules.

One of the most significant pledges in the charter is to set up a regional human rights body. Critics note that it will have limited impact, given that it will not be able to punish governments that violate human rights of their citizens.

Negotiators have watered it down by dropping earlier recommendations to consider sanctions, including possible expulsion, in cases of serious breaches of the covenant by member nations.

A copy of the charter seen by the AP states any such breaches would be referred to ASEAN heads of state "for decision."

"I'm not sure if it will have teeth but it will certainly have a tongue," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said, referring to the agency's right to admonish and criticize violators. "It will certainly have moral influence if nothing else. But these are details for the future."

Myanmar expressed satisfaction with the charter.

"We have a very good charter. I think everybody should be happy. It's quite balanced," senior Myanmar diplomat U Aung Bwa told the Associated Press in an interview.

The actions by Myanmar's junta have greatly embarrassed ASEAN, which is under pressure from the West and its own people to force change in the isolated Southeast Asian nation also known as Burma.

European Union foreign ministers approved several additional sanctions against the Myanmar regime on Monday, including a ban on the imports of timber, gemstones and precious metal. The EU also left the door open to more sanctions including a ban on the use of European-based banking services to members of the junta, diplomats said.

The new sanctions come on top of an existing travel ban on Myanmar officials, an arms embargo and a freeze of Myanmar assets in Europe.

ASEAN was founded during the Cold War years as an anti-communist coalition, eventually evolving into a trade and political bloc. It consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Associated Press reporters Jim Gomez, Eileen Ng and Vijay Joshi in Singapore contributed to this report.

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