The ILO held a Near and Middle East regional conference at Istanbul in 1947, to which the governments of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey were invited to send delegations. The results of the conference were communicated to the governments of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, suggesting that those countries were also understood as belonging to this region. Subsequently, the ILO established a Near and Middle East field office in 1952 (headquartered in Istanbul).

Sources: Minutes of the . . . Session of the Governing Body 102 (June-July 1947), 133-134, 265; Minutes of the . . . Session of the Governing Body 103 (December 1947), 148-149.