Catalogue description Commonwealth Office: Middle East, Western and United Nations Department and Mediterranean Department: Registered Files (M Series)

Former file reference order

The Middle East, Western and United Nations Department, which began life in the Commonwealth Relations Office as the United Nations, Western and Middle East Department, was a mixed Department dealing with both general matters of interest to the whole Commonwealth (its earlier responsibilities included disarmament and relations with the international defence organisations) and UK and Commonwealth relations with named states. By January 1967, its responsibilities had been reduced to relations with Malta, Cyprus, the United Nations and Commonwealth interest in East/West relations and the Middle East.

In May 1968, responsibility for relations between the Commonwealth and the United Nations and its various agencies passed to the Foreign Office, and the Department was renamed the Mediterranean Department.

This in turn was abolished upon the creation of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in October 1968, when the department's responsibilities were distributed as follows: residual responsibility for Southern Arabia passed to the Arabian Department; responsibility for Commonwealth interest in the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli dispute passed to the Near Eastern Department; responsibility for East-West relations was divided between the Eastern European and Soviet Department and the East-West Contacts Department; and responsibility for relations with Malta and Cyprus went to the Southern European Department.