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xxiv THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
relationship between Britain and the States concerned”. “The
Rulers are considering these arrangements”, he concluded.
The Joint Saudi-Kuwaiti Mission to the Gulf
In mid-January 1971, a joint Saudi-Kuwaiti delegation, headed by
Prince Nawwaf Al-Saud, Special Adviser to King Faisal, and
Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Kuwaiti Minister of Foreign
Affairs, toured the Gulf territories and held discussions with the
nine Rulers of the proposed federation. Consequently, the joint
delegation presented to the Rulers a document containing their two
governments’ proposals for the solution of the constitutional points
which were deferred by the Rulers for lack of agreement upon
them. i
i It was reported at the time that Bahrain and Abu Dhabi had
approved the proposals immediately while some other Emirates had
asked for some more time to study them.2 Another joint
Saudi-Kuwaiti mission, headed by the Under-Secretaries of the
Saudi and Kuwaiti Foreign Ministries, made a tour to the Gulf
Emirates in mid-April, 1971. This tour represented a last attempt
“to reconcile the differences between the Gulf Rulers, still
hindering the formation” of the proposed Federation of Arab
Emirates.3 This mission, which presented new amendments to the
original joint Saudi-Kuwaiti proposals, ended its tour on 21 April
1971, after its failure to get the approval of its amended proposals by
the Gulf Rulers. On 29 April, the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister
announced that Qatar made “certain reservations” to the proposals
of the joint Saudi-Kuwaiti mission.Bahrain had already announced
on 22 April, her approval of the said proposals, it was reported.4 The
Saudi-Kuwaiti proposals, as amended later, provided, inter-alia, for
(a) equal representation for all the Emirates in the proposed Federal
Assembly for the first period of four years only, (b) the formation of
a federal army, (c) the contribution by each Amirate of 10 per cent of
its national income to the federal budget, and (d) the location of Abu
Dhabi as a provisional capital, leaving the location of the permanent
capital to be decided in the future. 5

The Main Constitutional Differences
The main constitutional issues upon which there was
disagreement among the Rulers included, inter alia, the following:

1. Official Records of the Bahrain Government. (1971).
2. Arab Report & Record (1971), No. 2 p. 54.
3. Ibid, No. 7 p. 187.
4. Ibid. No. 8, 210.
5. Official Records of the Bahrain Government (1971).