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Clwplor Eight

                 term planning. Many of the senior slaff in each department of the
                 Office were British specialists who had undertaken similar projects
                 in the Sudan, India, the Hadhramaut or East Africa. By May 1970
                 twenty-six British citizens were employed by the Development
                 Office,123 ten of whom worked in the field of technical education, six in
                 the Public Works Department, five in the health services and three in
                 agricultural services. A fisheries specialist and the Senior Develop­
                 ment Officer were also British. Several of them were seconded from
                 the Ministry of Overseas Development and could therefore call on the
                 specialised expertise of people working for that organisation, as well
                 as for the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations.
                   Many of these men recognised the challenge to achieve under
                 very difficult conditions, and they brought with them a wealth of
                 experience which they were keen to apply. They were faced with
                 what was for many of them an ideal planners’ ‘‘grass roots” situation:
                 they could start from scratch. They were working for a relatively
                 small organisation in which they could to a certain extent use their
                 own initiative, and they could see the results of their efforts among an
                 appreciative population. In this atmosphere a learn spirit could grow,
                 often also drawing in officials working in administrative functions in
                 Dubai itself and throughout the northern shaikhdoms. This also
                 meant that voluntary assistance was often offered by individuals
                 working for companies who were operating in these Slates. In the
                 small and close circle of expatriates who were based in Dubai
                 everyone took an interest in the efforts and problems of the
                 Development Office, and in particular the Political Agency remained
                 a focal point for the discussion of development matters. The advisers
                 who were employed by some of the Trucial Shaikhs and municipali­
                 ties in various capacities were often instrumental in informally co­
                 ordinating the work of the Development Office with the projects of
                 the individual Rulers.
                   Formally the Development Office was independent of the British
                 Political Agency from 1965, when the chairmanship of the Trucial
                 States Council was taken by Shaikh Saqr bin Muhammad of Ra’s al
                 Khaimah. But the Political Agent remained a member of the Council,
                 sat in on all its meetings, and was still very much involved in steering
                 the Rulers, often individually, towards accepting British views on
                 development priorities. Thus Britain played an important part in the
                 commencement of developing the Trucial States by providing
                expertise rather than large sums of money.

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