Experts met at the Palais des Nations, Geneva on 11 April 2002, to identify policies favouring technology transfer and increased productivity in developing countries.

The meeting, organised by UNCTAD's Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development and funded by the Global Programme, focused on three case studies of sectors in selected developing countries. The studies were of aircraft manufacturer Embraer in Brazil, the South African automobile industry, and the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

The studies covered issues such as the limits to government intervention in promoting technology transfer, retaining talent from the brain drain to the developed world, and the importance of educational institutions in providing a skilled workforce.

Participants discussed the main findings and considered how they could be applied to other countries in the context of current WTO rules.

The studies, soon to be published along with an overview and a chapter on WTO provisions, will be widely distributed among the development community, thereby assisting countries to harness technology and integrate and compete in the global economy.