In 1952, the World Bank created an Area Department of Operations responsible for Asia and the Middle East. A year later, in 1953, a regional representative for the Middle East was appointed, with offices in Beirut, to serve as a liaison with Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. (It is evident from its activities, however, that the World Bank regarded the Middle East as a larger region that included Turkey, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.)

Sources: Ninth Annual Report to the Board of Governors, 1953-1954 (Washington DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, [1954]), 11-18; World Bank Group Archives, “World Bank Group Historical Chronology,” World Bank, http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTARCHIVES/Resources/World_Bank_ historical_chronology.pdf