The need for a National Economic Development Strategy

The Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority's (ADTA) need to deny 'allegations' that it is 'competing' with Dubai for tourists highlights the lack of a coherent national economic development strategy for the UAE. Given that the total population of the UAE is approximately 4.4 million (with Emirati citizens only making up 20% of that figure) it is quite puzzling that there doesn't seem to be talk of economic development at the national level. Rather, the economic development of the UAE is being discussed at the level of an emirate (avg pop. less than 1 million), with the potential for conflicting economic strategies as implied by the Tourism Authority's statement.

This state of affairs is presumably due to the semi-autonomous nature of the various emirates - each with their own ruler. There is a danger that the UAE's disjoint system of economic policy planning will lead to wasteful replication, competition between different emirates, and the inability to take advantage of economies of scale. (Does the UAE really need two stock exchanges, with all their corresponding fixed costs?)