1.1. West Asia

♤ Western Asia, West Asia, Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost sub region of Asia. The concept significantly overlaps with the Middle East (or the Near East), the main difference usually being the exclusion of the majority of Egypt (which would be counted as part of North Africa) and the inclusion of the Caucasus.

♤ The term is sometimes used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics. The total population of Western Asia is an estimated 300 million as of 2015.

♤ The World Economy: Historical Statistics (2003) by the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) only includes Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Palestinian territories (called West Bank and Gaza in the latter), Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, UAE, and Yemen as West Asian countries.

♤ The WANA [West Asia & North Africa] Division of MEA deals with all matters relating to Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Israel, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Palestine, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Jordan and Tunisia

♤ The Gulf Division of MEA includes all matters relating to Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, GCC and OIC].