Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has reappeared after widespread rumours of his death.
On Monday Mr Berdymukhamedov opened economic forum attended by regional leaders in a Caspian Sea resort town, reports BBC.
It is his first verifiable public appearance since claims that he had died of kidney failure spread across Russian-language media last month.
Turkmen media had earlier tried to quash speculation by showing footage of the president on holiday.
However there was no independent confirmation that that footage was recent.