Trade and Industry Minister Tareq Qabil said Saturday that economic relations with Washington are witnessing a quantum leap.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's visit to the US is sure an important step toward further improving the partnership between the two countries, Qabil said. 

He put the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the US at about five billion dollars in 2016.

Egyptian exports to the US upped by six percent to reach 1.493 billion dollars compared with 1.405 in 2015, the minister said.

Egypt's imports from the US declined in 2016 by 26 percent to 3.506 billion dollars down from 4.752 billion dollars in 2015, he added.

Qabil made it clear that Egypt was the US' biggest investment partner in Africa and its second biggest partner in the Middle East, coming just after the UAE, in 2015. 

Direct US investments in Egypt made up 33 percent of America's total investments in Africa in 2015, Qabil noted.