Since 1947, the FAO has been governed by an executive council consisting of specified numbers of representatives from different regions for geographical balance. One of those regions is the Near East. In 1948, the FAO serial The State of Food and Agriculture defined the Near East as encompassing the countries listed above.

Sources: The State of Food and Agriculture, 1948, 56 n. 4; Ross B. Talbot, Historical Dictionary of the International Food Agencies: FAO, WFP, WFC, IFAD (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1994), 41.