Recognizing that cooperative development holds the greatest prospects for bringing benefits to the entire region. Also aware of the challenges, the Nile riparian countries took a historic step in establishing the Nile Basin Initiative.

The initiative provides an institutional mechanism, a shared vision, and a set of agreed policy guidelines to provide a basin wide framework for joint action.

The long-term goal of the Shared Vision Program is to create an enabling environment for the Nile riparian's to realize their vision of “achieving sustainable socioeconomic development through the equitable use of, and benefit from, the common Nile Basin water resources.”

The Nile Transboundary Environmental Action Project is the largest project in the Shared Vision Program. It provides a strategic framework for environmentally sustainable development of the Nile River Basin and supports basin wide environmental action linked to transboundary issues in the context of the Nile Basin Initiative Strategic Action Program.