Page 367 - UAE Truncal States

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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