INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
The Board of Trustees and Shareholders,
Merrill Lynch International Equity Fund:
In planning and performing our audit of the financial statements of Merrill
Lynch International Equity Fund (the "Fund") for the year ended May 31,
2000 (on which we have issued our report dated July 19, 2000), we considered
its internal control, including control activities for safeguarding
securities, in order to determine our auditing procedures for the purpose
of expressing our opinion on the financial statements and to comply with
the requirements of Form N-SAR, and not to provide assurance on the Fund's
internal control.
The management of the Fund is responsible for establishing and maintaining
internal control. In fulfilling this responsibility, estimates and judgments
by management are required to assess the expected benefits and related costs
of controls. Generally, controls that are relevant to an audit pertain to
the entity's objective of preparing financial statements for external purposes
that are fairly presented in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America. Those controls include the
safeguarding of assets against unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition.
Because of inherent limitations in any internal control, misstatements due to
error or fraud may occur and not be detected. Also, projections of any
evaluation of internal control to future periods are subject to the risk that
the internal control it may become inadequate because of changes in conditions,
or that the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Our consideration of the Fund's internal control would not necessarily disclose
all matters in the internal control that might be material weaknesses under
standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
A material weakness is a condition in which the design or operation of one or
more of the internal control components does not reduce to a relatively low
level the risk that misstatements caused by error or fraud in amounts that
would be material in relation to the financial statements being audited
may occur and not be detected within a timely period by employees in the
normal course of performing their assigned functions. However, we noted
no matters involving the Fund's internal control and its operation,
including controls for safeguarding securities, that we consider to be
material weaknesses as defined above as of May 31, 2000.
This report is intended solely for the information and use of management, the
Board of Trustees and Shareholders of the Fund, and the Securities and Exchange
Commission and is not intended to be and should not be used by anyone other
than these specified parties.
/s/ Deloitte & Touche LLP
July 19, 2000
