Korea–Central Asia Summit Prep: South Korea kicked off a diplomacy run-up to its first heads-of-state summit with all five Central Asian countries in Seoul on Sept. 16, starting with talks between President Lee Jae-myung and Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev, with both sides pointing to expanded cooperation on critical mineral supply chains, AI, digital transformation, energy and defense. Industry Ministers’ Meeting: Seoul also hosted the first C5+1 industry ministers’ gathering, where Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan agreed to deepen supply-chain ties, expand Korean participation in smart infrastructure and industrial complexes, and push factory digitalization plus exchanges for young experts. Turkmenistan–UN Water Talks: In Avaza, Turkmenistan hosted a consultative meeting on setting up an implementation mechanism for the UN Special Program for the Aral Sea Basin (UN SPAS), with regional ministries and UN partners discussing the program’s format, legal framework and financing. OTS Religious Cooperation: In Baku, Muslim religious leaders of the Organisation of Turkic States adopted a declaration calling for joint action against terrorism, extremism and xenophobia, and for cooperation on religious education and shared approaches to Ramadan and Eid dates. Sports & Daily Life: Turkmenistan’s Premier League continued with Arkadag maintaining the lead after the 20th round, while forecasts point to hot, mostly sunny weather nationwide with occasional brief showers.