On March 23, 2015, the presidents of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia signed the Declaration of Principles in an effort to resolve their long-standing dispute over the sharing of the Nile River’s waters. The ten-point agreement, which focuses on Ethiopia’s controversial construction of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, includes principles on dispute settlement, fair and appropriate use, regional integration and sustainability, and cooperation among others. Ethiopia reportedly pursued the project because the dam would “give it a fairer share of Nile waters” and it wanted “to replace a 1929 treaty written by Britain that awarded Egypt veto power over any project involving the Nile by upstream countries.” Another report indicates that Egypt and Sudan were concerned the dam, though a significant development effort for Ethiopia, “would divert significant volumes of water away from the White Nile which both countries depend heavily on for irrigation and drinking water.” Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, is quoted as saying “[b]y signing this agreement, we confirm our commitment to pursue further detailed agreements that organise relations among the Nile Basin countries.”