Indonesia, Sudan to set up Islamic University in Jakarta

Indonesia and Sudan have recently agreed to establish an Islamic university in Jakarta, reported the Indonesian News Agency ANTARA Tuesday.

"It will be established as soon as possible. We have invited the Sudanese vice president to lay the first cornerstone of the university buildings' construction," Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Said Agil Husin Al Munawar said on Tuesday upon his arrival at the Soekarno Hatta airport from a visit to the Middle East.

Munawar said he and Sudan's Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the establishment of the university in the presence of the Sudanese president recently. The university will focus on the study of the Holy Al-Qur'an, the Islamic economy and the Arabic language, he said.

He said the university's lecturers will come from both countries. Indonesia, with a population of more than 220 million, is known as the world's biggest Moslem country.