Outstanding Egyptian youths wishing to study in China will soon be able to take advantage of 500 freshman scholarships provided by the government, Vice-Premier Liu Yandong said on Saturday.

Liu made the announcement while addressing a forum of Chinese and Egyptian university chiefs in Cairo.

There are more than 800 Egyptian students studying in China, and more than 2,300 Chinese students studying in Egypt, Liu said, adding that the two countries should make bilateral people-to-people exchanges a "locomotive" driving China-Arab and China-African relations.