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54 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
i (iii) The Exchange of Letters Agreement, dated 25 July 1958, between
the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the
Sultan of Muscat and Oman, concerning the Sultan's armed forces,
civil aviation, Royal Air Force facilities and economic development in
Muscat and Oman

This agreement was released recently by the British Government in
the form of a memorandum submitted to the Ad Hoc Committee on
Oman, appointed by the United Nations General Assembly. It states,
inter alia:

In pursuance of the common interest of Your Highness and Her Majesty’s
Government in furthering the progress of the Sultanate of Muscat and
i Oman, Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom have agreed
! to extend assistance towards the strengthening of Your Highness’s Army.
Her Majesty’s Government will also, at Your Highness’s request, make
available regular officers on secondment from the British Army, who will,
while serving in the Sultanate, form an integral part of Your Highness’s
armed forces. The terms and conditions of service of these seconded British
officers have been agreed with Your Highness. Her Majesty’s Government
will also provide training facilities for members of Your Highness’s armed
forces and will make advice available on training and other matters as may
be required by Your Highness . . -1
As is shown in the above provisions, this agreement provides for
full co-operation between Britain and Muscat in the political, military
and economic fields. On the military plane, it constitutes the first
publicly published document which has committed Britain to provide
military assistance to the Sultan. As the reader will notice later in
this book, it was often argued in British parliamentary circles that
since the yardstick of the British protectorate regime in the Arabian
Gulf does not engulf the British-Muscati relationship, the British
military action in Oman in 1955-7 was, therefore, lacking of legal
support. 2

OTHER FOREIGN POWERS
The Sultanate of Muscat and Oman maintains treaties of friendship
with a number of foreign States, such as France, Holland, India and
the United States.

i Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Oman, 22 January 1965, p. 166. And see
U N.T.S., vol. 27, p. 287, for the text of Civil Air Agreement between the United
Kingdom and Muscat, signed on 5 April 1947.
3 See Chapter 14 below.