China and Egypt on Sunday signed an agreement on establishing the Egyptian Chinese University (ECU) in Cairo, the first Chinese university to be set up in the Middle East region.

The agreement was signed by Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike, President of China's Liaoning University Cheng Wei and Karima Abdullah Karim, the board chairwoman of Egypt's International Education Institution (IEI).

"The agreement will further enrich the cooperative relations between China and Egypt, which have witnessed steady development in political, economic, cultural and educational fields," Ambassador Wu Sike said at the signing ceremony.

Cheng Wei noted that it was the first time for his university to cooperate with an Egyptian higher educational organization, vowing to make good use of the opportunity to establish a first-class university with the Egyptian side.

For his part, Karima expressed hope that the ECU would become a new model of cooperation between "two countries with ancient civilizations."

According to the agreement, the IEI would be responsible for the infrastructure projects, such as the constructing of the teaching complexes.

The ECU plans to formally enroll 900 undergraduate students from the academic year 2006-2007 on the occasion of the 50 anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between China and Egypt, according to the head of China's university.