A RACE WITH TIME

In this chapter, Sheikh Mohammed explains the efforts behind establishing the Union. He talks about the big dream of bringing nine emirates together.

From 1968 to 1971, we were in a race with time, a race to create the most important Arabic agreement, which is still valid. The United Arab Emirates was the result of that agreement.

The union was an exception in the modern Arab history. Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid were the core that we all depended to reach such an achievement. That period of time witnessed great political actions and my father used to assign me with many of them, including negotiations and talks.

My father had a dream of making a union of nine emirates, including Qatar and Bahrain, and he was trying to reach this agreement before 1971. The rulers held a meeting in Jumeirah on February 25, 1968, and as a result, they signed the Dubai Agreement, aiming establishment of the union.

The Supreme Federal Council was established and its first meeting was held in Abu Dhabi in July, 1968. My brother and the then crown prince Sheikh Maktoum was the council’s representative.

For two years, the council held many meetings to decide on important matters including the allocations and responsibilities through hard negotiations. We were stably moving forward. My father held meetings with all Arab sheikhs and rulers and all of them wished the best for the new union.

In May 1969, we attended the third session of the Supreme Federal Council in Dubai, and we approved the number of representatives in the parliament and the council.

The counsellors representing each emirate started writing the final draft of the agreements and their endless tours, which made us feel that the dream of the union was never close. They always highlighted legal obstacles against the establishment of the union. I told my father that counsellors would destroy the dream. They were selling the information and rumours, and they always wanted to divide us.

We had a serious race with time. They were crucial years to make the dream of the union come true, and make a future for the people of the emirates. In what he is calling his “incomplete biography”, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has broken his latest book, Qissati (My Story), into 50 chapters, narrating 50 stories in his 50 years of serving the nation. Khaleej Times got a signed copy of the book from the Dubai Ruler and everyday, we will be featuring excerpts from each of the 50 chapters.