Leaders of 16 nations signed a declaration calling for annual talks on issues that also included health scares such as bird flu and energy security.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he had assured the summit of his country's commitment to peaceful development.

China will never seek domination in East Asia, he told the gathering.

China will not develop itself at the expense of others, and its development will not threaten any other country, the premier added.

A stable, open and prosperous China will surely make greater contributions to maintaining regional and world peace and promoting the common development of mankind, Wen said.

Development has proven and will continue to prove that China is a responsible country and a staunch force for world peace and common development, Wen said.

He added that no matter what may happen in the international arena, China will remain a trustworthy and reliable partner of the people in this region.

China has succeeded in embarking upon a development path suited to its national conditions, namely, a Chinese path to socialist modernization, a path to peaceful development, and China will stick to the path, Wen told the gathering.

The Chairman's Statement issued after the East Asia Summit said the leaders attending the summit agreed "the East Asia Summit with ASEAN the driving force is an integral part of the overall evolving regional architecture."

The leaders also shared the view that the East Asia Summit would continue to be a leaders'-led summit for strategic discussions on key issues affecting the region and the evolving regional architecture, the leader's statement said.

"We have all agreed that an East Asian community will be a reality in the future," Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who chaired the half-day talks, told reporters.

The summit brought together leaders of the 10 Southeast Asian nations that convened it, plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand — a gathering that represented about half the world's population and a fifth of global trade.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a brief speech to the summit, and stated Moscow's desire to become an official member, a Japanese official told reporters.

A decision on Russia's inclusion in the summit is expected to be made next year, Abdullah said.

The 10 members of ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.