In 2008, the Bureau of the Standing Working Group on Ageing was established as one of the executive committees of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), represented for the first time by Ms. Elmas Esra CECELİ, Director General of the General Directorate of Services for Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly, following an election held in 2022. The 15^th meeting of the Bureau of the Standing Working Group on Ageing, which was held in Istanbul on 27-28 April 2023, hosted by Türkiye, was the policy-making body of the Standing Working Group on Ageing (SWGA), membered by the Republic of Türkiye.

In addition to the officials of the Ministry of Family and Social Services of the Republic of Türkiye, representatives of the 8 Bureau member states, the Secretariat of the Standing Working Group on Ageing, representatives of international civil society organizations operating in ageing and academicians participated as observers.

The first day of the fifteenth Bureau meeting this year started with the adoption of the meeting agenda. Following the adoption of the agenda of the two-day meeting, the meeting continued with the opening speeches of Ms. Elmas Esra CECELİ, Director General for Services for Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly of the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the representative of the Secretariat of the Standing Working Group on Ageing of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the Chairperson of the Bureau.

Ms. CECELİ started her opening speeches by expressing her gratitude for the meeting to be hosted by the Republic of Türkiye and stated that the efforts for the implementation of rights-based and inclusive policies for older persons continue in ageing of the population, which Türkiye was experiencing just like the rest of the world, and shared the recent developments in ageing. In this context, Ms. CECELİ underlined the importance of cooperation at both international and national levels and emphasized the value that this meeting would add to the policies and practices of all Member States in ageing.

Following the opening speeches, Ms. CECELİ shared presentations on the Ageing Vision Document and the National Action Plan on the Rights of Older Persons (2023-2025), which was the implementation tool of the vision shared with the public on April 29, 2023 by the Minister Derya YANIK and which set out the vision of  'Building a society for all ages where older persons can realize their rights, receive services in accordance with their needs and demands and pass on their life experiences to future generations' in ageing.

Following Ms. CECELİ's presentations, the meeting continued with a presentation by the Secretariat on the international work and activities in which the Standing Working Group on Ageing and its Bureau contributed and participated since the annual meeting of the Working Group on Ageing in November 2022. In addition to the activities carried out, discussions on ongoing or planned activities were held and decided by the Bureau.

The first day of the meeting ended with the finalization of the Work Program of the Working Group for 2023-2027, which played an important role in guiding the policies and practices to be developed by the Member States in ageing in the next five years, with the decision adopted as a result of the feedback and evaluations of the members of the Bureau.

The second day of the meeting, which started with the sharing of the preparatory work for the Conference on 'Population and Development' to be held in October 2023 and planned to be attended by the representatives of the countries in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, ended with the closing speeches and the group photo after the evaluation and determination of the agenda and the work to be carried out within the framework for the 16^th annual meeting of the Working Group to be held in November 2023.