The agreement between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan concerning the Grand Renaissance Dam.
On March 23 Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed an agreement on principles for the development of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. In February all ten member states of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) met in Khartoum to mark 'Nile Day'. Egypt resumed its participation in the initiative, having frozen it in 2010. The latest agreement is significant because it reduces the scope for Egypt and Ethiopia to resort to escalatory and confrontational threats about the Blue Nile. It also boosts prospects for continued cooperation in the wider Nile Basin.
Any future nationalistic rhetoric over the Nile waters from Egypt will not derail technical cooperation.
However, Egypt's lack of cheap alternative sources of fresh water make the Nile an existential issue if flow is seriously compromised.
Cooperation over use of the Nile is therefore set to proceed on a dam-by-dam basis, with impact studies necessary at every stage.
Legal deadlocks over water rights will almost certainly continue.
