United Nations Ministerial Conference on ageing is organised every five years since Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing (MIPAA) was adopted in 2002. The Conference primarily aims to monitor the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and provide opportunities to measure the developments made by the Member States in improving the quality of life of older people in the region (Europe, North America and Central Asia) over the past five years but also to provide recommendations for priority activities in the coming period. This year the Conference was organised in Lisbon, Portugal on 21 and 22 September and the introductory events – NGO and researchers’ fora took place the day before. The Conference was organised by United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Its title was “A Sustainable Society for All Ages: Realizing the Potential of Living Longer.”

The NGO forum adopted a political declaration while the Ministers participating adopted a ministerial declaration at the end of the Conference. These declarations will in the next five years be guidelines for creating policies and services that will lead to improved quality of life of older people in the UNECE region.