Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei), Oct 10 (IANS): Leaders of 10 ASEAN countries and their eight dialogue partners including India met here to discuss strategic issues of relevance to the Asia-Pacific region at the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) which opened here Thursday.

US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have opted out of the summit and they were represented by their foreign ministers.

Since its inception in 2005, the EAS has served as a forum for dialogue on broad strategic issues of relevance to East Asia as well as other regional and global issues, with the focus on areas such as energy security, climate change, infectious diseases, sustainable development, poverty reduction and disaster management.

A Chairman's Statement is expected to be adopted as the outcome of the summit.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh address the meeting Thursday morning and reaffirmed India's commitment to building economic and security architectures in the region.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The eight dialogue partners include China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the US.