The Birth of the United Arab Emirates Soon after assuming power on 6th August 1966 as the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed underscored the importance of union and remarked: ?In harmony, in some sort of federation, we could follow the example of other developing countries?. The significance of unity and the need to work in co-operation with the other emirates was thus ingrained in Sheikh Zayed?s thinking very early in his career. Although he was fully aware that federation was a novel concept in the region, yet he had a firm conviction that it could be implemented on the basis of common ties that bound the different emirates, and the history and heritage that they shared together for centuries. To translate his ideals of union, co-operation and mutual support into practice, Sheikh Zayed began to devote a large part of his emirate?s income from oil to the Trucial States Development Fund long before the inception of the UAE as a federal state.