In December 4, 2005, the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, EEAA and the World Bank held a public consultation meeting to discuss the report of Piloting the Use of the Egyptian System to Address Environmental and Social Issues in the World Bank-Assisted Egyptian Pollution Abatement Project II and solicit feedback. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Mr. Maged George, the Egyptian Minister of State for Environmental Affairs. More than 70 participants representing a wide range of stakeholders, including sector ministries, international organizations, industry, the banking sector, NGOs, academia, environmental consulting, local environmental offices and the media.

The report revealed common features between the World Banks environmental assessment policy and the national Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) system.
Both systems were comparable in many aspects, such as screening, content of the environmental assessment report representing the main output of the system, the provisions for regional and sector environmental assessments, and finally the requirements for public consultation. Furthermore, the report indicated that Egypt possessed the basic institutional and legal infrastructure at the national, regional and local levels for implementation of the system. However, the report noted several inputs that will be required to fully harmonize the two systems. These include revision of EIA Guidelines, training, capacity building, public disclosure, and empowerment of stakeholders.