Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamed Amr on Sunday announced a decision to ban foreign embassies at Egyptian airports from examining the visas of Egyptian nationals travelling to those embassies’ respective countries.

Amr also issued a decision banning all forms of interaction between embassy employees and Egyptians travelling from Egyptian airports.

Ashraf El-Khouly, assistant foreign minister for ceremonial affairs, explained the ban by pointing out that a number of foreign embassies in Cairo had appointed people as embassy "attachés" simply to allow them to obtain work permits.