Eugene R. Black, President of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, spoke about the plight of the underdeveloped member countries. Bank has greatly enlarged its knowledge of their economic problems and needs, their capacity to absorb and service external loans, and the merits of particular development projects. He discussed the most constructive contributions the Bank can make to the progress of development, especially in the least advanced countries, is to help make available to them the experience of other nations. He closed on a note that the Bank can start on the way towards equilibrium, it may find the effects of returning confidence highly cumulative and the difficulties dispelled more quickly than they dared hope.