Ten presidents gathered in Avaza on Turkmenistan's Caspian coast on Thursday and Friday for three simultaneous summits on regional security, economic integration, and a rapidly shrinking sea that leaders warned has become as much an economic crisis as an environmental one.
The gatherings — the eighth Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia, the CIS Council of Heads of State and the first Caspian Ecological Forum — brought together leaders of post-Soviet states as the region marks 35 years of independence.