"China has surely made a tremendous progress in the field of medicine and it has its unique philosophy and style in the field. So learning from the Chinese medicine and integrate it into the Egyptian medical system is certainly a win-win situation," Shihy said.

He described cooperation between Egypt and China as "unprecedented," noting that 50 ECU students are currently in a scholarship in China for field training and learning about the Chinese culture.

The conference will include 25 lectures and three research papers on traditional Chinese medicine delivered by professors and experts from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the Egyptian universities of Cairo, Ain Shams, Alexandria, Sohag and Assiut, in addition to Egypt's Military Medical Academy.

For his part, Bao of Shanghai Jiao Tong University said the two sides will offer master's and doctoral programs in the traditional Chinese medicine.

"The programs include sending Chinese experts to Egypt to train Egyptian professionals on traditional Chinese medicine and contribute to building a healthy community," Bao told Xinhua during the conference.