"The school is expected to help Huangpu district in the eastern part of Guangzhou attract more talented people from both home and abroad over the coming years," he said.

Huangpu district is sparing no effort in attracting talent to support its economic development, and the district government is planning to give top priority to the development of the IT, artificial intelligence and biomedicine industries.

Zhou met Brian Bauer, principal of Granada Hills Charter High School, in October to discuss the expansion of educational cooperation between the district and the school.

Zhou and Bauer pledged to develop the Guangzhou project into a major senior middle school that could compete with some of the world's most renowned schools.

Bauer said he believed the new school would have great potential in the years ahead, as the market for international education was burgeoning in the region.

"The Guangzhou school will attach importance to cultivating students' creative and innovation abilities, and connect with prestigious universities and colleges in the US, forming a coherent and integrated international educational process," he said.

In recent years Huangpu district has attracted a large number of foreign companies and professionals to the area and is an ideal environment for an international school, he added.

Granada Hills Charter High School, a public school, is the largest charter school in the United States.

Earlier this year, Huangpu district signed contracts to construct the Huangpu Shrewsbury Experimental School and International Hwa Chong School of Singapore.

Covering an area of 5.52 hectares, Britain's Shrewsbury Experimental School is planned for 1,500 students a year while the International Hwa Chong School, with an area of 6.5 hectares, will take in up to 2,900 students, including 600 senior middle school students and 2,300 junior middle school students.

Both schools will begin to enroll students from the autumn of 2019.