Jordan said Thursday that it welcomed a reconciliation agreement between the Palestinian movements of Fatah and Hamas, the state-run Petra news agency reported.

"Jordan welcomes and supports all efforts to unify the Palestinians. Jordan has been always stressing the need to realize Palestinian reconciliation, which unifies Palestinians and helps them realize their legitimate aspirations in creating their statehood," Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Thursday.

On Wednesday, Fatah and Hamas signed a preliminary agreement on reconciliation during talks in Cairo, paving the way for forming an interim government to prepare for elections.

Calling for the immediate implementation of the reconciliation deal to end the division that lasted for years, the minister said the division between the Palestinians was used as a pretext to procrastinate the implementation of the two-state solution in line with a regional formula that attains lasting peace in the Middle East.

Judeh, who commended the Egyptian role in brokering the reconciliation deal, said Egypt remains an important and basic pillar in the Arab, regional and international arenas.