CAIRO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the largest investor in Egypt with investments worth 6.2 billion U.S. dollars in various service and production sectors, said the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry in a statement on Sunday.

"The trade relations between Egypt and the UAE witness noticeable progress during the current stage," Egypt's Trade and Industry Minister Tarek Kabil said in the statement.

The minister said that the trade balance between the two countries is shows difference in imports and exports in favor of Egypt by 1.5 billion dollars in 2017, compared with 1.4 billion dollars in 2016.

Cairo seeks to further boost trade relations with Abu Dhabi through expanding the number of Egyptian companies exporting to the UAE and those taking part in exhibitions in the Gulf country, said Kabil.

Egypt has been suffering economic slowdown over the past few years due to political turmoil and relevant security challenges, which led the country in late 2016 to start a strict three-year economic reform program including austerity measures, energy subsidy cuts and tax increases, in addition to local currency floatation to contain dollar shortage.

Despite causing price hikes and high inflation rates, the floatation of the Egyptian pound encouraged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support Egypt's economic reform plan by a 12-billion-dollar loan, half of which has already been delivered to the North African country.

The UAE, along with other oil-rich Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and excluding Qatar, supported the Egyptian leadership of President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi with billions of dollars and tons of oil supplies following the Sisi-led military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.