Beijing  - A plan will be finalized "as soon as possible" for a foreign exchange reserve of 80 billion dollars for 10 South-East Asian and three East Asian nations, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said on Friday.

Speaking on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the opening of a summit of Asian and European leaders, Bolkiah said there was "fear of economic meltdown" that was "compelling us to address this issue immediately."

Leaders of the "ASEAN plus three" group earlier on Friday promised joint efforts to combat the global financial crisis and maintain regional economic stability.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao chaired the meeting of leaders of the 10 ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South Korea.

The 13 Asian leaders held an open discussion on "issues of common concern, especially the financial crisis and its influence on East Asia," host nation China said.

"They expressed their willingness to enhance coordination and cooperation and to make joint efforts to prevent and withstand the crisis in a bid to maintain economic stability," the Chinese government reported on the official website of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which opened later on Friday.

Officials said the 13 leaders had agreed to hold a technical working group next month in the Philippines to discuss details to be presented to the ASEAN leaders' summit in Thailand in December.

Thai media reported earlier that Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat planned to propose that the "ASEAN plus three" group set up a much larger 350-billion-dollar reserve fund, but it was not immediately known if Somchai had made the proposal.

A total of 16 Asian leaders and 27 leaders of EU nations are meeting in Beijing for the seventh biannual ASEM summit on Friday and Saturday.

The ASEM summit is focussing on the financial crisis and discussing measures to combat climate change caused by global warming.

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