A meeting on book development in Africa was convened by Unesco at Accra, 13-19 February 1968, to help formulate a programme of action. It was attended by participants from 23 African countries as well as from a number of other Member States and international organizations. The meeting was part of a long-range programme adopted by Unesco to assist developing countries to take advantage of the striking advances in printing, publishing and distribution techniques that have made it possible to produce and distribute good quality low-priced books on a vast scale. The Accra meeting recognized that Africa's book shortage was a severe impediment to economic and social progress. Accordingly, they established regional targets for book development to 1980, correlated to Africa's educational plans to that date. The economic context of book development was highlighted in a paper presented by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, which is included in this publication, together with the final report of the meeting. (Author/NH)