The Commonwealth Health Ministers at their meeting in Ottawa in October 1983 recommended that “the Secretariat or the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association (CPA) should establish an inventory of drug manufacturers and drug packaging plants within the Commonwealth, particularly in the developing countries, in order to assist regional groups making bulk purchase arrangements or planning regional manufacturing and packaging programmes, where these are desirable”. The CPA was commissioned to undertake this project funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation. Dr. J.N. Banerjee, President of CPA and Dr. R.A. Khan, a former adviser to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and World Health Organisation (WHO), were appointed as consultants.