Malawi President Peter Mutharika has described a high-level summit of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held Dec. 4-5 in South Africa, "very fruitful".

Mutharika made the remarks upon arriving home Sunday from the summit.

Mutharika said he had had two meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping during the summit where he discussed China-Malawi relations, among other issues.

"During those meetings I thanked the Chinese President for the support his government gives to Malawi," said Mutharika, who also said he had told his Chinese counterpart of the challenges Malawi still faces, including schools, hospitals and transport.

Mutharika said the summit had given the Chinese government and African States an opportunity to discuss development in the continent.

Since China and Malawi established diplomatic ties in 2007, China has helped develop the southern African country's landscape with a number of state-of-the-art infrastructure projects, such as a five-star Hotel, the International Conference Center, New Parliament Building, and a world-class stadium in the capital city of Lilongwe.