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In this oft-cited speech, President Wolfensohn discusses the many impediments in the way of sustained economic development including the previously verboten issue of corruption -- or as he referred to it, "the cancer of corruption." 

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In this address given in Stockholm, Sweden, President McNamara talks about the topics most pertinent to the World Bank's work in developing countries in the mid-1970s, including water and agricultural sectors, governance, and the environment. He also praises the work of the United Nations and their continued collaboration with the World Bank.

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President Clausen looks at the grim economic circumstances facing the world’s developing countries in the early 1980s and provides some thoughts on the future.  He then discusses how the Bank ought to respond and how the institution intends to mobilize resources.

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In this address, President McNamara looks at the World Bank’s past record of impacting economic development and alleviating absolute poverty. He discusses the Bank’s innovative policies for accelerating and redirecting economic growth and describes the publication of a new Bank-authored report, the World Development Report (WDR).

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At the 1963 Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, President Woods discussed factors impeding the economic progress of developing countries: the commodity problem, the debt problem, and the policy problem. He details the need for new lending in the agriculture, industry, and education sectors and promotes the establishment of a facility for conciliation and arbitration of international investment disputes.

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In this famous speech given at the 1973 Annual Meetings in Nairobi, Kenya, President McNamara proposed a strategy for rural development with an emphasis on the productivity of smallholder agriculture. He warned that official development assistance (ODA) is inadequate, and that over 800 million people live in what he described as "absolute poverty."

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President Eugene Meyer's lone address to the Board of Governors was given on the occasion of the presentation of the Bank's first Annual Report by the Executive Directors to the Board of Governors. The speech recounts the World Bank's creation, reports on the conditions of its finances, and provides on update on loans under consideration.

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In his speech to the Board of Governors, President Black looks back on his decade leading the World Bank, touching on the Bank’s loan disbursement and bond issues and reviewing the Bank’s growth and successes. Turning to the future, he focuses on atomic energy loans, the Indus waters negotiations, loans to industrial development banks, and the support of private investment.

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