The workshop on enabling environments for technology transfer convened from 9-10 April 2003, at the Het Pand Conference Center, Ghent University, Belgium. The workshop was organized by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in collaboration with the Center for Sustainable Development, Ghent University. The workshop was convened in response to a request by the UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) at its seventeenth session, held in October 2002. The SBSTA also requested the Secretariat to prepare a technical paper on enabling environments for the transfer of environmentally-sound technology (ESTs) for consideration by the UNFCCC Expert Group on Technology Transfer (EGTT) at its third meeting in late May 2003. In response to this request, the Secretariat commissioned the Tata Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) to develop a draft technical paper on the issue. The paper was submitted in early April.

Fifty-three representatives of governments, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), business and industry groups, and academic institutions attended the workshop. Plenary sessions on Wednesday, 9 April, and Thursday, 10 April, provided an overview of the technology transfer issue, reviewed the draft technical paper on enabling environments, and examined barriers and opportunities to technology transfer. On Thursday morning, participants also convened in two working groups to discuss: the means for governments to identify barriers to technology transfer and ways to overcome them; and the role that multilateral lending institutions, bilateral programmes and the private sector could play to assist governments in overcoming those barriers. Workshop participants also provided inputs for the work of the EGTT and elements for possible actions to promote enabling environments, for further consideration by the EGTT and the SBSTA.