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Chapter Nine

                 Iran swept through every majlis of the other littoral Gulf states,
                 demonstrating to the Rulers the urgent necessity for closer political
                 co-ordination among themselves. On the 25th to 27th May 1901 the
                 six Heads of Slate of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE,
                 and Oman formally established the Gulf Co-operation Council,
                  which had been in the making since January 1901. On this occasion it
                  was again shown forcefully that, even at such a regional event, only
                  the UAE’s national leadership nowadays acted on behalf of the
                  federal stale.
                    Thus the foreign policy or the UAE was successful in firmly
                  placing the new State on the map regionally and internationally, from
                  which it could no longer be erased without provoking an inter­
                  national outcry.
                   During and after the 1973 October War the UAE actively
                  participated in the revived drive for closer Arab co-operation and the
                 more concerted, deliberate and even aggressive foreign policy of the
                  Arab World.
                   The very successful foreign policy was equally beneficial in
                  rendering further credibility to the Federation at home. The majority
                  of the population in the seven Emirates took much less time than
                  expected to transfer much of its tribal allegiance from the local Ruler
                  to the UAE government and its President, particularly when it
                  became obvious that their new State was recognised, respected and
                 even courted by governments and organisations the world over.

                 Growth of the federal administration
                 To many outside observers and to many participants in government,
                  progress towards the creation of federal authorities and the transfer
                 of local administration to the latter appeared too slow. They would
                  favour a much tidier and more manageable highly centralised
                 administration. This view is shared by foreign technocrats, by
                 commentators who lack experience of federal systems, and by many
                 of the educated, young and often idealistic nationals who became
                 civil servants in federal ministries.
                   Yet if one recalls the reluctance of some regional governments to
                 integrate their administration into the new systems, and if one
                 considers the constitution’s deliberate imprecision on the procedure
                 for the unification of certain authorities, the overall record of
                 consolidation of the federal administrative authority has been quite
                 spectacular in recent years.
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