The Roman Catholic Church has reached a landmark agreement on promoting a dialogue between Christians and Muslims.

The agreement is between the Al-Azhar University, in Cairo, the most senior authority on Sunni Islam,and the Vatican's council for inter-religious dialogue, headed by Cardinal Francis Arinze, from Nigeria.

A joint committee will now work to encourage cooperation between the two religions.

Correspondents say the agreement marks a further improvement in relations between the Vatican and Islam which were once on a collision course because of their intense competition for new converts in some parts of the world.