The regional workshop is part of the activities included in a United Nations Development Account (UN DA) capacity-building project on “Promoting Renewable Energy Investments for Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development’’.

Tis event is organized within the framework of the Ministerial Conference and 8th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development.

The workshop will focus on the following topics:

• Presentation of the global techno-economic trends for RE technologies: The impacts that such trends can have on RE investments in developing countries; and how to consider these trends when promoting investments in RE in both ESCWA and ECE Member countries.
• Presentation of ESCWA and UN ECE Project Development Portfolios, and panel discussions about the technical, regulatory and institutional issues that need to be addressed in order to complete the bankable proposals / business plans of the retained RE projects.
• Lessons learnt from previous experiences in developing RE investments in countries where there is an absence or lack of adequate policy and regulatory environments. This should help relevant stakeholders in such countries identify some of the issues they need to address when developing RE projects in such situations. 
• Presentation of the regulatory and policy requirements for promoting RE investments at the national level: Adopted frameworks in selected ESCWA and ECE Member countries & outline of key regulatory & policy options. This will include panel discussions about the regulatory and institutional issues that need to be addressed to promote RE investments.

During the forum, and following the day of the workshop, a session is organized on matchmaking between RE project developers and potential financing parties & investors, and a second session is organized on RE financing. These two RE sessions will also be attended by workshop participants.