Page 367 - UAE Truncal States
P. 367

Chapter Nina

                adopting a common immigration policy. This agreement became
                possible after a dispute regarding the off-shore boundary bet  ween
                the two sheikhdoms was settled to Dubai’s advantage. Dubai
                relinquished its claim to a further stretch of coastline but did obtain
                full sovereignly over the whole of the off-shore Path oil-field.13
                  The two Rulers invited the neighbouring Rulers to participate in a
                larger federation. On 25 February the Rulers of the seven Trucial
                Stales and of Bahrain and Qatar convened in Dubai to hold a
                constitutional conference. This quick response and willingness to co­
                operate. no matter how grave some of their differences had been, was
                partly due to the fact that before the British announcement British
                officials had been encouraging the idea of forming a federation. The
                Trucial States Council of the seven Rulers established in 1952 by the
                British Government already gave the Rulers a say in the British-run
                development projects and it also provided a means of institutionalis­
                ing consultation and co-operation between them.14 There is also a
                tradition of meetings of all or some of the Trucial Rulers, usually
                convened by the strongest Ruler at the time, to settle a particularly
                disruptive dispute between two shaikhdoms or tribes or to counter a
                general threat. The Trucial States Council meetings which took place
                at the invitation of the Political Agent resident in Dubai, which were
                at times addressed by the Political Resident in the Gulf, never
                developed much of an organisational working routine, but they did
                help in that the seven Rulers met at least twice a year to discuss and
                to agree on matters concerning development work.15
                  The meeting of the nine Rulers in February 1968 in Dubai was
                organised neither by the Trucial Stales Council nor by a British-
                sponsored constitutional conference. The invitation was extended by
                the Rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, who each had their own reasons
                for wanting to expand the scope of the meeting, and hopefully of the
                federation itself, beyond the circle of the seven Trucial States. Thus it
                was probably the idea of Shaikh Rashid of Dubai to include Qatar,
                which was then ruled by his son-in-law, Shaikh Ahmad bin 'Ali A1
                Thani, who had helped generously with loans and grants for
                development projects in Dubai; on the other hand Abu Dhabi had
                always had close relations with Bahrain, whose currency, the
                Bahrain Dinar, it had used from 1966 to 1972; also the Government of
                Bahrain had liberally provided teachers and civil servants for the
                expanding Abu Dhabi administration.


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