At the Seventh Commonwealth Education Conference held at Accra in March 1977, Ministers of Education and their senior officials expressed concern about the rising cost of paper which, they feared, could threaten the ability of Commonwealth developing countries to maintain their supplies of textbooks. Hopes were expressed that ways could be found by which these countries could become more self-reliant in meeting their paper requirements, either by utilizing hitherto untapped raw materials for local paper production or by making increased use of recycled waste paper. Accordingly the Commonwealth Secretariat was asked to keep in touch with innovations and experiments in paper and book production technology throughout the world, and to communicate whatever information it obtained to Commonwealth governments.