Egypt's embassies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait Qatar and United Arab Emirates will renew the non-machine readable passports for Egyptian citizens until they return home and issue machine readable passports (e-passports), the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Contacts are underway with Oman and Bahrain in this regard, it added.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry tackled the new passports issue during a meeting with top officials from the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for issuing passports, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Badr Abdel Aatti.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), non-machine readable passports should be out of circulation by November 24, 2015.