Visiting Chinese Vice Minister of Education Yuan Guiren Saturday inaugurated the Chinese Department of Egypt's elite Cairo University, pledging further educational cooperation between the two countries.

Speaking before some 300 students and teachers of Cairo university, the vice minister said the establishment of the Chinese Department is part of efforts to promote cooperation between Chinese universities and Egyptian institutions of higher education.

He revealed that the Chinese side has donated some 1000 Chinese books and magazines to the department, adding a Chinese teacher would come and work with the Egyptians.

The Chinese government is willing to create opportunities for more Egyptian students to study in China, he added.

Dr. Hisham Al-Malky, the dean of the Chinese Department, said in fluent Chinese that the university has chosen some of their best students to form this department, adding the goal is to develop an "ideal" model for teaching and learning the Chinese language outside China.

He hoped to develop his department on the expertise China has built up in recent years on training overseas students in Chinese language skills.

Ali Abd Al Rahman, the President of Cairo University, started his speech with a joke and ended it with an ambitious plan.

Given the fact that Chinese Ambassador Wu Sike, also present at the ceremony, can speak fine Arabic, he said he decided to study in the Chinese Department, but only after retirement.

He hoped the department will be developed into one of the best Chinese-teaching institutions outside China and a center for spreading Chinese culture in the Arab world.

He added the Chinese Department will become a "tower" which symbolizes the comprehensive cooperation between Egypt and China.

China has enjoyed breath-taking economic growth during the past two decades. As its economic and political clout grows, the Chinese language has also proved increasingly popular among students in other countries.