Leaders opened an Asian security summit on Thursday under scrutiny for signs that the group's embrace of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would signal a shift toward an outwardly anti-Western stance.
The presidents of China, Russia and four Central Asian nations - the core members of the grouping known as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization - held a closed-door meeting.
They were later to hold an enlarged session with Ahmadinejad and the leaders and representatives of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Mongolia.