Egypt has approved of setting up a cultural bureau in China's capital Beijing as part of its efforts to enhance cultural exchange with China, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported Sunday.

Egypt's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Amr Salama said the bureau aimed at stronger relations between the two countries in cultural, scientific, and educational fields.

Galal el-Gomaei, chief of the ministry's cultural cooperation and educational missions department, told Xinhua that the bureau was affiliated with the ministry and supervised by the Egyptian embassy in China.

"The bureau works to help Egyptian emissaries in China, promote Egyptian culture, supervise the cultural exchange and sponsor the scientific and technological projects," el-Gomaei said.

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf assigned Mohamed Gaber Abu Ali, a professor in the faculty of Engineering at Alexandria University, as a cultural counselor and manager of the bureau.