Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Qabil asserted that the Egyptian-UAE relations are strategic and deeply rooted at the political, economic and social levels, noting that economic relations in particular have recently witnessed an unprecedented leap due to the joint development projects that serve the interests of both countries.

The minister's remarks were made before leaving for Abu Dhabi as part of the delegation accompanying President Abdel Fattah El Sisi who embarked on a two-day official visit to UAE.

He said UAE has been supportive of the Egyptian economy over the past period, noting that such backing has positively reflected on the development projects in the basic economic sectors.

Egypt's exports to UAE in the first half of the current year hit dlrs 1.204 billion compared with dlrs 1.126 billion in the same period of the past year, recording an increase of seven percent, the minister added.

Egypt's imports from UAE reached dlrs 908 million in the past year compared with dlrs 2018 in 2015, recording a decrease of 25 percent, according to the minister.

Trade balance tilts in favor of Egypt as it recorded dlrs 735 million in the current year, compared with dlrs 685 million in the year before, the minister explained.

Qabil also said the UAE market ranked first on the list of countries that have established investments in the Egyptian market with a total investment value of dlrs 6.2 billion distributed over 868 projects in the communication, banks, real estate, tourism and information technology fields.

Egypt's main exports to UAE include appliances, furniture, fruits and vegetables, foodstuff and medical products and supplies, he added.