Bangkok: India today (Jul 30, 2004) said that it favoured creation of an Asian community and said New Delhi should be included in the ongoing dialogue ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) has been holding with some of the leading nations in Asia.

ASEAN has been having summit-level meetings with China, Japan and South Korea, called the ASEAN-plus three process, since 1997 and India wants to be part of this process. India held summit meetings with the ASEAN leaders in 2002 and 2003.

"The place of India in the ASEAN would demonstrate the place of India in the ASEAN scheme of things," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in an interview to leading Thai daily 'The Nation' on the eve of his departure to Bangkok to participate in the BIMST-EC summit.

He said that an ASEAN-plus four formula that included India would be the first building block for the creation of an Asian community.

"We are supportive of a building block approach to establish a broader cooperative framework for the Asian community in the long term," he said adding there is always the possibility of having a broader cooperation framework that incorporates all of Asia and this is reflected in the spirit behind the Asian cooperation dialogue, which has been initiated by Thailand.