Ammon News - More than 300,000 illegal Egyptian workers face possible deportation [from Jordan] if they do not rectify their situation soon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Awad Khleifat said Saturday.

During a meeting with Egyptian Ambassador to Jordan Khaled Tharwat on Saturday, Khleifat said that there are around 500,000 Egyptian workers in Jordan, only 76,000 of whom work legally, according to Jordan News Agency, Petra.

“Any expatriate who does not hold a valid work permit will be deported,” the agency quoted the minister as saying.

The minister said that the regulations include all expatriates and not only Egyptians.

The ambassador pointed to the deep and entrenched relationship between Jordan and Egypt, dubbing it “strategic and special”.

He called on the government to allow the Egyptian workers more time to rectify their position and obtain legal work permits to stay in Jordan.

The minister and the ambassador also discussed bilateral ties, including the Egyptian gas supply to the Kingdom, according to agreements signed between the two countries.

Khleifat emphasised the need to maintain the supply as per the agreed quantity.

He said that the total amount that Jordan should receive is 250 million cubic feet per day, which is less than 4 per cent of the daily Egyptian production.

Tharwat said that he will diligently push his government to provide Jordan with the agreed amount, despite the hardships faced by Egypt.

Energy Minister Alaa Batayneh was in Egypt last month, where he agreed with officials that the gas supply would be increased before the end of the last month, but no such a development was announced.