I l

Vol 5 September I 1951 No9

SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING By Lyell Doucet Secretarys Department

The Sixth Annual Meeting of the Boards of Governors of the Bank and Fund under the Chairmanship of the Honorable Douglas C Abbott Minister of Finance of Canada will open at 1145 am Monday September 10 in the MainBall Room of the Shoreham Hotel where the Governors from the 49 member countries will be welcomed It is expected that with the Governors deleshygates press and guests there will be an attendance of between 800 and 1000 persons While this is the actual opening session the Joint Procedures Committee will have met during the afternoon of the preceding Saturday to layout the course and work of the Annual Meeting and the report of that Committee will be submitted for ~pproval to the Boards of Governors at their opening

ession In many aspects the meeting will follow the pattern of previous Annual Meetings and as now planned Mr Black will present the Bank sAnnual Report to the Governors in an open session during the afternoon of Monday September 10 Following this meeting the Chairman will hold a reception atAnderson House for all the Governors and guests of the Bank and Fund

As the attendance at the sessions of the Boards of Governors is so large Messrs Black Rooth Garner and Overby are planning a series of small luncheons and dinners throughout the week in order to meet all the Governors individually and in small groups and to have detailed discussions regarding the problems facing the member countries In addition both Mr Black and Mr Overby plan to have dinners on the opening night in honor of special guests from financial and banking circles who have been invited to the opening session

Mr Rooth will present the Funds Annual Report to its Governors on the morning of Tuesday the 11th and that afternoon the Banks Governors will hold a closed meeting to discuss the Banks Annual Report in detail Following this meeting there will be a session of a Committee of Governors of the Bank to consider the various reports submitted by the Executive Directors on the financial statements budget and other matters relating to the Banks operations and administration The morning of Wednesday September 12 will be devoted t o Fund business with an informal meeting of the Banks

vernors that afternoon during which a full discussion ~ ~the Banks role in the international field will be enshy)~)1uraged During Thursday September 13 there will be meetings of the full Boards of both the Bank and Fund

See Meeting-Page 4

EGYPT REVISITED By Feliks Bochenski Loan Department

Let them gath-er all the food of these good years that come and layup corn under the hand of Pharaohand let them keep food in the cities And that food saall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt that the land perish not through the famine (Genesis 4135-36)

Ages have passed since these words were written yet the basic problems of Egypt have largely remained the same High pric es of cotton rather than an abunshydance cf corn are responsible for the present good years in Egypt and while there is no certainty that their numshyber will be seven the necessity to husband resources in anticipation of the often very prominent downward move of the cycle in Egypts economy has remained as important as it was long ago It may have become even more important in view of the increased populashytion -- some 20 million people live on the narrow ribbon of cultivated land along the Nile and in its Delta -- and because with the spread of education the needs have grown and people begin to expect more from life than the bare necessities

Bank Staff Mellbers (General Wheeler J Rucinski A bull Kruithof and F Bochenski) on field trip with officials of the Egypttan Mtntstry of Publ ic Works

Now as before the means to prevent famine is storage But while in the past it was necessary to store food it is now possible to store water for the growing of crops in the years of low floods which have been invariably

the lean years of Egypt See Egypt Revisited-Page 4

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

Pub

lic D

iscl

osur

e A

utho

rized

==9ampr~== WELCOME TO NEW STAFF MEMBERS

ADMINISTRA TION DEPARTMENT Mr JamesM Johnson formerlywithSafewayStores

Inc Washington DC Mr Earnest Parham formerly with the Department

of the Army at Fort Myer Miss Christine Stuckey a recent graduate of Winthrop

College South Carolina

LOAN DEPARTMENT Dr Leopold Baranyai formerly adviser to the Presishy

dent of Bank Deutscher L~nder Frankfurt Germany Mrs Beatrice V Martinson formerly with the United

Nations Food andAgricultureOrganization Washington DC

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS STAFF Mrs Camille Cox formerly with the French Emshy

bassy Washington DC

TREASURERS DEPARTMENT Mrs Elizabeth Nichols formerly with the United

Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Washington DC

Mrs Olive R Peter son formerly with the Santa Barshybara Cottage Hospital California

WEDDINGS

Miss Betty Teczar of the Staff R~lations Office was

married August 10 to Mr Robert Shelton Jr bull of the Department of Agriculture After their wedding trip to Bermuda Betty will return to the Bank

Mr Mervyn Weiner of the Economic Department was married on August 26 in Baltimore to Miss Shirley Hurwitz from Raleigh North Carolina

BANK BABIES

Mr and Mrs William M Keltie announce the birth of a son Richard born in Alexandria Hospital August 7 1951 The Kelties have another son Robert age 3 12

Mrs Revelyn Eisenstadt reports that their new son David Michael born July II is now home from the hospitaL

M-s Yvonne Earle has returned to the office Her daughter Diane is now four months old

Mr and Mrs Gerald Alter announce the birth of a son Gregcry Seth Alter born August 3 1951

Mrs Ruth Clark has returned from an air trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota

NIiss Betty Davis has left for a two weeks vacation in Carlinville Illinois

Mrs Dorothy Alexander has left for a holiday in New York City While there she will participate in the National Bridge Tournament

Mrs Dorothy Stewart suffered an accident while in Ottawa to attend the funeral of her aunt Dorothy was knocked down by a motor cycle

PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT OF THE MISSION TO CUBA

August 16 1951

The Report as pre ~entecl by Mr Garner to Ambassado Machado for transshymittal to his Government Seated left to right Luis Machado Ambassador for Cuba Mr Garner Dr Alberto E ~pinosa Minister Counselor of the Cuban Embassy and Mr Manuel Diez ETecutive Director for Cuba

BANK FiLM

A 13-minute movie called Power Changes Mexico the fir st information film produced by the International Bank -- is being completed in New York this week and may possibly be seen by Governors of the Bank the Executive Directors and Bank Staff during September

Power Changes Mexico is the result of a project which began last January when the Bank decided to produce a short subject for Screen Magazine UNs documentary film series Mexico was selected as the subj ect of this short film because electrification loans the Bank has made there are far enough advanced to show definite effects in that country Assigned to the production crew were Claude Houlbreque of France the UN s senior cameraman Ralph Foster of Canada Chief of the UN Film Section as Director and Daviu Fulton of the Bank to assist in the directing and to adshyvise on matters concerning the Bank The crew arrived in Mexico in mid-March spent a month shooting and returned to the United States in April with several thousand feet of film which had the making of a picture When the film was screened there seemed to be mateshyrial for a longer picture In Maya detailed treatment was made for this longer film a production budget was set up and a film editor was hired to choose the footage which would best illustrate the points of the treatment By August the edited film was ready and the commentary was written Music was chosen frQm a library in New York and sound effects were dubbed in Finally the sound tracks -- voice music and effects -- were blended together in a mix and the film was ready for printing

1000TH LOAN GRANTED BY CREDIT UNION

The Bank-Fund Credit Union has reached a milestone in its service to the staff The I OOOth loan was rec ently approved and to mark the occasion a portable radio was presented to the unsuspecting recipient of the lucky loan

PA YMENT OF PRIOR SERVICE CONTRIBUTION

Any regular staff member who has been continuously employed by the Bank since before May 31 1948 has two important dates to remember concerning the pay ment of his prior service contribution

For further information see Administrative Ci rcul r On Payment of Prior Service Contribution issued March 21 1951 A copy is on file in the Arc hives Division

I

WHOS WHO IN THE BANK

MR BOONMA WONGSWAN

You may address Mr Boonma Wongswan the Banks Alternate Executive Director for Ceylon Ethiopia Thailand Turkey and Yugoslavia as Mr Boonma or as Mr Wongswan It is the custom in Thailand to call a man by his first name instead of by his family name

Ie to the fact that there were no family names in lailand until about 40 years ago Mr Wongswan says

t~at he does not think it makes any difference whether the fir st or last name is used because laquoif your family name here is Smith no one knows what family you belong to

There was no difficulty at all in interviewing Mr Wongswan as his English is perfect and he was so charmingly cooperative He told Ine that he was born in Nakonpatom Thailand on November 7 1917 edushycated at Weymouth College England and graduated from the London School of Economics University of London in 1939 It was there that he met Miss Chirie Varavarw whom he married in 1941

Mr Wongswan was Lecturer in Economics at the Chulalongkorn University Bangkok 1941 Chief of Di vision of Economic Affairs Prime Ministers Office 1943 Chief of Revenue Survey Division ComptrollershyGenerals Department Ministry of Financ e 1945 Chief of Financ ial Affairs Division Comptroller-G eneral s Department Ministry of Finance 1946 Acting Assisshytant Comptroller-General Ministry of Finance 1947 Assistant Comptroller-General Ministry of Finance 1948 Mr Wongswan first came to this country in July 1950 as a member of the Thai Delegation to negoshytiate loans from the Bank

He was appointed Alternate Executive Director to the Bank November 1 1950 Mr Wong swan divides his time between the Bank and the Royal Thai Embassy

lere he is Financial Counselor Mr Wongswan has written a book on modern ecoshy

nomics in the Thai language One of his hobbies is photography as evidenced by the fact that he took h~s own photograph for his passport He claims to be a

very poor dancer but hopes to improve as his wife is very fond of dancing He himself prefers to play bridge and he played in tournaments in Bangkok He likes to play tennis badminton and table tennis and while at the London School of Economic s was captain of all three teams He went in for the All-England tournament in table tennis and got as far as the last sixteen which was not too bad sinc e there were sixtyshyfour competing

Mr Wongswan is fond of gardening but he said reshygretfully that his house on 31 st Place is surrounded by so many trees that he cannot grow flowers

Mr and Mr s Wongswan have two precious little girls Tanya 5 years old and Mallika 3

THE BANKS SECOND MEETING OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF

By William D S Fraser

On August 15 the second Ineeting of the professional staff was held in the International Conferenc e Room of the State Department

Mr Maurice Perkins of the Agricultural Section of the Economic Resources Division reviewed the world agricultural commodity position and gave interesting figures of the perc entage increase and dec rease in caloshyrie availability per capita in various parts of the world for 195051 as compared with prewar

Mr Stewart Mason LoanOfficer described the Banks interest in development banks He gave details of the capital structure of the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey and of its operations to date He also deshyscribed the Development Bank of Ethiopia and how it differed from the Turkish institution

Mr Davidson Sommer s General Counsel explained that the degree of development of private enterprise and private banking in Mexicc and the assistance of a government financing agency made it unnecessary to create a new institution Instead a consortium of pri shyvate banks has been created

Mr Garner ended the meeting by describing the apshyproaches made by the Government of Colombia during his recent visit to that country concerning the possishybilities of establishing a development bank The Governshyment has requested the services of an expert to advise on the creation of a long term investment market

GROUP HEALTH

Group HealthAssociation will be accepting new memshyber s from September 1 through September 15 For further details see Miss Pyne in Room 1213

--------- INTERNATIONAL BANK NOTES ----------- Harriet French- Editor

Reporters

Marior Abbott Admlni s trat ion 1Jept Jentry Holmes Public ReZat ions Dep t Lacy Carter Aamin i slrat LOn Dept Maria Leone New York Off e Muriel Eddy Secr~tarys Dept Virginia Nemeth Eoona ie Dep t Alice Foley Legal bept Myrtle Timmins Treasurers Dep t Francoise Goupy Paris OJfi ce J Van Gasse Loan Dept

Jeanne Wells Executive Di rectors Edited and Published on the I st of each month by the Staff Relations Office

Personnel Division - Donald D Fowler - Personnel Manager INTERNA TIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEV ELOPMENT

1818 H Street Washington 25 DC

SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING - SHOREHAM HOTEL

Mabel whats the total value of 500 French Francs 10 English Shillings 1000 Italian Lira 100 Chilean Pesos

Meeting - continued from Page 1 to receive the reports of their Committees and next morning the Joint Procedures Committee will again assemble to consider the site and date of the Seventh Annual Meeting as well as the election of a Chairman and other officers of the Boards of Governors for the ensuing year At 3 00 oclock that afternoon there will be the closing session of both Boards of Governors to receive the report of the Joint Procedures Committee and to welcome the newly appointed Chairman That evening instead of a formal closing dinner as in the past it is planned that the Governors will have an inshyformal buffet supper on board the steamer Mt Vernon which will leave at about 6 00 oclock for a trip lasting two to three hours down the Potomac River

While the Annual Meeting will be of only five days duration actually the whole preceding year has been devoted to its arrangements To this end there is conshytinual joint working of the Staffs of the Bank and Fund in planning the Meeting preparing the Reports for the Governors making travel and hotel accomodations for the delegates setting up all the meeting rooms and offices at the Shoreham Hotel and many other incidental arrangements

The Annual Meetings of the Bank and Fund are unique occasions since at no other time of the year do so many leading government dignitaries in the financial and economic fields assemble in one place Ministers of Finance and Heads of Central Banks from about 50 countries have many common subjects of interest and discussion The meetings are valuable not only for the transaction of formal business and the holding ofnecesshysary discussion but also for the opportunities given to these government leaders to have talks among themshyselves and to become acquainted with one another Similar opportunities to meet withGovernors and deleshygates are afforded to Department Heads and professional staff members so that they become well acquainted with the principal officials in member countries with whom they must transact business

Equally the meetings give to the Governors who are preoccupied all year in their own countries with their national problems an insight into the Banks operations and policies which it is important for them to have if the Bank is to continue enjoying their support

Egypt Revisited - continued from Page 1

This change has been brought about by technological progress as well as by the opening up of those regions of Africa where the Nile has its sources (It should b remembered that regions around the headwaters of th White and Blue Nile were fully explored only some hunshydred years ago) The great plan to provide more water for Egypt and the other countries of the Nile basin conshysists mainly of retaining some of the floodwater and permitting its more even distribution This involves among other things the construction of reservoirs on the LakesAlbert and Victoria in Central Africa and on Lake Tana in Ethiopia The latter site was inspected recently by General Wheeler a member of the Bank Mission who visited Egypt in June and July

This was the second Bank Mission to Egypt the first having taken place in the Spring of 1949 As IBRD misshysions obviously do not time their travels in accordance with the recommendations oftourist guide books nobody can really be blamed for the fact that the visit occurred at the one time of the year when not only few foreigners arrive in the country of their own free will but even many Egyptians leave for vacation tours in cooler parts of the world There was also an additional hardship for Egyptians in the fact that the holy month of Ramashydan the period in which Moslems observe a complete fast from sundown to sunset coincided this year with the hottest season and the longest days Yet in spite of these handicaps the Mission was able in close coshyoperation with Egyptian experts to fulfill its task in bringing up to date economic information about the country and studying its development possibilities

A s usual on such occasions many old friendshi were renewedandMission members met a great num ber of interesting people most of them hard working all of them very congenial

ITS TIME FOR BOWLING

The IBRD Bowling League is starting its fifth season Arrangements have been made with the Kaloshyrama Bowling Alleys 1649 Kalorama Road NW to commence bowling September 19 at 730 pm for 30 nights with one night off for Christmas closing the season on April 23

On the basis of a survey conducted by the Bowling Club to determine how many regular members the Club could count upon it was decided to have ten teams this year If any member of the staff did not put his name down

as a regular member of a team at the time the lists were passed around and would be interested in bowlshying please telephone the sec retary of the League Doris Eliason extension 2250 A cordial invitation is exshytended to all staff members to participate whether as a beginner or as a regular

THE BANKS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

The Banks crossword puzzle composed by Mr William D S Fraser for the last issue of BANK NOTES w a first solved byMiss Virginia Nemeth and she receh ~

the box of chocolates We regret that lack of space prevents our publishing the solution but it may be seen in the Staff Relations Offic e

I

WHOS WHO IN THE BANK

MR BOONMA WONGSWAN

You may address Mr Boonma Wongswan the Banks Alternate Executive Director for Ceylon Ethiopia Thailand Turkey and Yugoslavia as Mr Boonma or as Mr Wongswan It is the custom in Thailand to call a man by his first name instead of by his family name

Ie to the fact that there were no family names in lailand until about 40 years ago Mr Wongswan says

t~at he does not think it makes any difference whether the fir st or last name is used because laquoif your family name here is Smith no one knows what family you belong to

There was no difficulty at all in interviewing Mr Wongswan as his English is perfect and he was so charmingly cooperative He told Ine that he was born in Nakonpatom Thailand on November 7 1917 edushycated at Weymouth College England and graduated from the London School of Economics University of London in 1939 It was there that he met Miss Chirie Varavarw whom he married in 1941

Mr Wongswan was Lecturer in Economics at the Chulalongkorn University Bangkok 1941 Chief of Di vision of Economic Affairs Prime Ministers Office 1943 Chief of Revenue Survey Division ComptrollershyGenerals Department Ministry of Financ e 1945 Chief of Financ ial Affairs Division Comptroller-G eneral s Department Ministry of Finance 1946 Acting Assisshytant Comptroller-General Ministry of Finance 1947 Assistant Comptroller-General Ministry of Finance 1948 Mr Wongswan first came to this country in July 1950 as a member of the Thai Delegation to negoshytiate loans from the Bank

He was appointed Alternate Executive Director to the Bank November 1 1950 Mr Wong swan divides his time between the Bank and the Royal Thai Embassy

lere he is Financial Counselor Mr Wongswan has written a book on modern ecoshy

nomics in the Thai language One of his hobbies is photography as evidenced by the fact that he took h~s own photograph for his passport He claims to be a

very poor dancer but hopes to improve as his wife is very fond of dancing He himself prefers to play bridge and he played in tournaments in Bangkok He likes to play tennis badminton and table tennis and while at the London School of Economic s was captain of all three teams He went in for the All-England tournament in table tennis and got as far as the last sixteen which was not too bad sinc e there were sixtyshyfour competing

Mr Wongswan is fond of gardening but he said reshygretfully that his house on 31 st Place is surrounded by so many trees that he cannot grow flowers

Mr and Mr s Wongswan have two precious little girls Tanya 5 years old and Mallika 3

THE BANKS SECOND MEETING OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF

By William D S Fraser

On August 15 the second Ineeting of the professional staff was held in the International Conferenc e Room of the State Department

Mr Maurice Perkins of the Agricultural Section of the Economic Resources Division reviewed the world agricultural commodity position and gave interesting figures of the perc entage increase and dec rease in caloshyrie availability per capita in various parts of the world for 195051 as compared with prewar

Mr Stewart Mason LoanOfficer described the Banks interest in development banks He gave details of the capital structure of the Industrial Development Bank of Turkey and of its operations to date He also deshyscribed the Development Bank of Ethiopia and how it differed from the Turkish institution

Mr Davidson Sommer s General Counsel explained that the degree of development of private enterprise and private banking in Mexicc and the assistance of a government financing agency made it unnecessary to create a new institution Instead a consortium of pri shyvate banks has been created

Mr Garner ended the meeting by describing the apshyproaches made by the Government of Colombia during his recent visit to that country concerning the possishybilities of establishing a development bank The Governshyment has requested the services of an expert to advise on the creation of a long term investment market

GROUP HEALTH

Group HealthAssociation will be accepting new memshyber s from September 1 through September 15 For further details see Miss Pyne in Room 1213

--------- INTERNATIONAL BANK NOTES ----------- Harriet French- Editor

Reporters

Marior Abbott Admlni s trat ion 1Jept Jentry Holmes Public ReZat ions Dep t Lacy Carter Aamin i slrat LOn Dept Maria Leone New York Off e Muriel Eddy Secr~tarys Dept Virginia Nemeth Eoona ie Dep t Alice Foley Legal bept Myrtle Timmins Treasurers Dep t Francoise Goupy Paris OJfi ce J Van Gasse Loan Dept

Jeanne Wells Executive Di rectors Edited and Published on the I st of each month by the Staff Relations Office

Personnel Division - Donald D Fowler - Personnel Manager INTERNA TIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEV ELOPMENT

1818 H Street Washington 25 DC

SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING - SHOREHAM HOTEL

Mabel whats the total value of 500 French Francs 10 English Shillings 1000 Italian Lira 100 Chilean Pesos

Meeting - continued from Page 1 to receive the reports of their Committees and next morning the Joint Procedures Committee will again assemble to consider the site and date of the Seventh Annual Meeting as well as the election of a Chairman and other officers of the Boards of Governors for the ensuing year At 3 00 oclock that afternoon there will be the closing session of both Boards of Governors to receive the report of the Joint Procedures Committee and to welcome the newly appointed Chairman That evening instead of a formal closing dinner as in the past it is planned that the Governors will have an inshyformal buffet supper on board the steamer Mt Vernon which will leave at about 6 00 oclock for a trip lasting two to three hours down the Potomac River

While the Annual Meeting will be of only five days duration actually the whole preceding year has been devoted to its arrangements To this end there is conshytinual joint working of the Staffs of the Bank and Fund in planning the Meeting preparing the Reports for the Governors making travel and hotel accomodations for the delegates setting up all the meeting rooms and offices at the Shoreham Hotel and many other incidental arrangements

The Annual Meetings of the Bank and Fund are unique occasions since at no other time of the year do so many leading government dignitaries in the financial and economic fields assemble in one place Ministers of Finance and Heads of Central Banks from about 50 countries have many common subjects of interest and discussion The meetings are valuable not only for the transaction of formal business and the holding ofnecesshysary discussion but also for the opportunities given to these government leaders to have talks among themshyselves and to become acquainted with one another Similar opportunities to meet withGovernors and deleshygates are afforded to Department Heads and professional staff members so that they become well acquainted with the principal officials in member countries with whom they must transact business

Equally the meetings give to the Governors who are preoccupied all year in their own countries with their national problems an insight into the Banks operations and policies which it is important for them to have if the Bank is to continue enjoying their support

Egypt Revisited - continued from Page 1

This change has been brought about by technological progress as well as by the opening up of those regions of Africa where the Nile has its sources (It should b remembered that regions around the headwaters of th White and Blue Nile were fully explored only some hunshydred years ago) The great plan to provide more water for Egypt and the other countries of the Nile basin conshysists mainly of retaining some of the floodwater and permitting its more even distribution This involves among other things the construction of reservoirs on the LakesAlbert and Victoria in Central Africa and on Lake Tana in Ethiopia The latter site was inspected recently by General Wheeler a member of the Bank Mission who visited Egypt in June and July

This was the second Bank Mission to Egypt the first having taken place in the Spring of 1949 As IBRD misshysions obviously do not time their travels in accordance with the recommendations oftourist guide books nobody can really be blamed for the fact that the visit occurred at the one time of the year when not only few foreigners arrive in the country of their own free will but even many Egyptians leave for vacation tours in cooler parts of the world There was also an additional hardship for Egyptians in the fact that the holy month of Ramashydan the period in which Moslems observe a complete fast from sundown to sunset coincided this year with the hottest season and the longest days Yet in spite of these handicaps the Mission was able in close coshyoperation with Egyptian experts to fulfill its task in bringing up to date economic information about the country and studying its development possibilities

A s usual on such occasions many old friendshi were renewedandMission members met a great num ber of interesting people most of them hard working all of them very congenial

ITS TIME FOR BOWLING

The IBRD Bowling League is starting its fifth season Arrangements have been made with the Kaloshyrama Bowling Alleys 1649 Kalorama Road NW to commence bowling September 19 at 730 pm for 30 nights with one night off for Christmas closing the season on April 23

On the basis of a survey conducted by the Bowling Club to determine how many regular members the Club could count upon it was decided to have ten teams this year If any member of the staff did not put his name down

as a regular member of a team at the time the lists were passed around and would be interested in bowlshying please telephone the sec retary of the League Doris Eliason extension 2250 A cordial invitation is exshytended to all staff members to participate whether as a beginner or as a regular

THE BANKS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

The Banks crossword puzzle composed by Mr William D S Fraser for the last issue of BANK NOTES w a first solved byMiss Virginia Nemeth and she receh ~

the box of chocolates We regret that lack of space prevents our publishing the solution but it may be seen in the Staff Relations Offic e

SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING - SHOREHAM HOTEL

Mabel whats the total value of 500 French Francs 10 English Shillings 1000 Italian Lira 100 Chilean Pesos

Meeting - continued from Page 1 to receive the reports of their Committees and next morning the Joint Procedures Committee will again assemble to consider the site and date of the Seventh Annual Meeting as well as the election of a Chairman and other officers of the Boards of Governors for the ensuing year At 3 00 oclock that afternoon there will be the closing session of both Boards of Governors to receive the report of the Joint Procedures Committee and to welcome the newly appointed Chairman That evening instead of a formal closing dinner as in the past it is planned that the Governors will have an inshyformal buffet supper on board the steamer Mt Vernon which will leave at about 6 00 oclock for a trip lasting two to three hours down the Potomac River

While the Annual Meeting will be of only five days duration actually the whole preceding year has been devoted to its arrangements To this end there is conshytinual joint working of the Staffs of the Bank and Fund in planning the Meeting preparing the Reports for the Governors making travel and hotel accomodations for the delegates setting up all the meeting rooms and offices at the Shoreham Hotel and many other incidental arrangements

The Annual Meetings of the Bank and Fund are unique occasions since at no other time of the year do so many leading government dignitaries in the financial and economic fields assemble in one place Ministers of Finance and Heads of Central Banks from about 50 countries have many common subjects of interest and discussion The meetings are valuable not only for the transaction of formal business and the holding ofnecesshysary discussion but also for the opportunities given to these government leaders to have talks among themshyselves and to become acquainted with one another Similar opportunities to meet withGovernors and deleshygates are afforded to Department Heads and professional staff members so that they become well acquainted with the principal officials in member countries with whom they must transact business

Equally the meetings give to the Governors who are preoccupied all year in their own countries with their national problems an insight into the Banks operations and policies which it is important for them to have if the Bank is to continue enjoying their support

Egypt Revisited - continued from Page 1

This change has been brought about by technological progress as well as by the opening up of those regions of Africa where the Nile has its sources (It should b remembered that regions around the headwaters of th White and Blue Nile were fully explored only some hunshydred years ago) The great plan to provide more water for Egypt and the other countries of the Nile basin conshysists mainly of retaining some of the floodwater and permitting its more even distribution This involves among other things the construction of reservoirs on the LakesAlbert and Victoria in Central Africa and on Lake Tana in Ethiopia The latter site was inspected recently by General Wheeler a member of the Bank Mission who visited Egypt in June and July

This was the second Bank Mission to Egypt the first having taken place in the Spring of 1949 As IBRD misshysions obviously do not time their travels in accordance with the recommendations oftourist guide books nobody can really be blamed for the fact that the visit occurred at the one time of the year when not only few foreigners arrive in the country of their own free will but even many Egyptians leave for vacation tours in cooler parts of the world There was also an additional hardship for Egyptians in the fact that the holy month of Ramashydan the period in which Moslems observe a complete fast from sundown to sunset coincided this year with the hottest season and the longest days Yet in spite of these handicaps the Mission was able in close coshyoperation with Egyptian experts to fulfill its task in bringing up to date economic information about the country and studying its development possibilities

A s usual on such occasions many old friendshi were renewedandMission members met a great num ber of interesting people most of them hard working all of them very congenial

ITS TIME FOR BOWLING

The IBRD Bowling League is starting its fifth season Arrangements have been made with the Kaloshyrama Bowling Alleys 1649 Kalorama Road NW to commence bowling September 19 at 730 pm for 30 nights with one night off for Christmas closing the season on April 23

On the basis of a survey conducted by the Bowling Club to determine how many regular members the Club could count upon it was decided to have ten teams this year If any member of the staff did not put his name down

as a regular member of a team at the time the lists were passed around and would be interested in bowlshying please telephone the sec retary of the League Doris Eliason extension 2250 A cordial invitation is exshytended to all staff members to participate whether as a beginner or as a regular

THE BANKS CROSSWORD PUZZLE

The Banks crossword puzzle composed by Mr William D S Fraser for the last issue of BANK NOTES w a first solved byMiss Virginia Nemeth and she receh ~

the box of chocolates We regret that lack of space prevents our publishing the solution but it may be seen in the Staff Relations Offic e