The United Arab Emirates has returned to Egypt 425 rare artefacts that date to various eras of ancient Egypt, Emirati state news agency WAM said on Sunday.

Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, decided to return the artefacts in a gesture of "appreciation to Egypt, which played and is still playing an active educational and enlightening role in the Arab world," according to WAM.

The collection, which has already arrived in Cairo from Sharjah, includes items from the pre-dynastic era, as early as 4000 BC, and from the old, middle and new kingdoms, and the Ptolemaic, Greco-Roman and Coptic eras.

The collection includes rare stone, ceramic, and bronze figurines of ancient Egyptian deities like Isis and Amon-Ra, as well as coloured wooden sarcophagi, human and animal mummies and accessories made of gemstones.

Last year, Sharjah, the third-largest emirate of the United Arab Emirates, returned to Egypt 345 Egyptian artefacts.