On March 25, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks at the Great Hall of the People with Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika. The two heads of state discussed major issues concerning bilateral relations and reached broad consensus on deepening sound, stable, sincere and friendly relations between the two countries.

During the meeting, Hu said the establishment of diplomatic ties opened up a new chapter for bilateral ties. "This not only meets the fundamental interests of both countries and the two peoples, but also contributes to regional and world peace, stability and development," said Hu. Hu said the Chinese government was willing to develop long-term, healthy and stable friendly cooperative ties with Malawi on the basis of the one-China policy and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Hu also spoke highly of Mutharika's important contributions to the establishment and development of China-Malawi diplomatic relations and appreciated the Malawian government's adherence to the one-China policy, opposition to "Taiwan independence" and support of China's peaceful reunification.

Mutharika said the establishment of diplomatic ties unveiled a new chapter in the history of bilateral relations and won great support from the whole Malawian nation. It is an unswerving decision made by the Malawian government, he added. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, bilateral ties have been developing smoothly with positive progress made in bilateral exchanges and cooperation. Mutharika said he was in China for friendship and cooperation, and expected to get support and cooperation from China for Malawi's poverty relief and development cause. Mutharika reiterated his country's firm adherence to the one-China policy and the support for China's peaceful reunification. He said the people of Africa and the world at large all look forward to participating in the Beijing Olympic Games and Malawi wishes and believes the event to be a success.

Hu said currently both sides should focus on the following three aspects in enhancing their ties. In the political area, Hu called on both countries to step up friendly exchanges between leaders, government departments and ruling parties to build up mutual understanding and trust. Both sides should understand and support each other on major issues that concern respective core interests and enhance coordination on international and regional affairs. In the economic field, Hu urged both sides to earnestly advance pragmatic cooperation in all areas and bring tangible benefits to both peoples. China is ready to expand and strengthen bilateral economic and trade cooperation based on equality, mutual benefit, win-win cooperation and common development. China has been supporting competent and reliable enterprises to invest in Malawi and hopes to discuss with Malawi the possibility of conducing mutually beneficial cooperation on agriculture, fishery, mineral resources exploration and infrastructure construction, Hu said. He also suggested that both sides should give full play to the planning, guiding and coordinating role of relevant government agencies to push for sound, in-depth development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. in the humanities area, both sides should actively step up exchanges in culture, education, public health, media, youth, women and tourism to develop friendship and expand cooperation. China is ready to make joint efforts with Malawi to ensure that bilateral friendship can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the two peoples and be carried forward from generation to generation for the benefit of both countries and their peoples.

Agreeing with Hu's proposals on developing bilateral friendly cooperative relations, Mutharika said Malawi was ready to cement exchanges and conduct mutually beneficial cooperation with China in the areas of agriculture, electricity, transportation, mineral resources exploration and infrastructure construction. He hoped the two peoples could enhance mutual understanding and friendship through youth and education exchanges.

Following the talks, the two heads of state jointly attended a signing ceremony of a couple of bilateral cooperation documents including the agreement on trade, investment and technological cooperation, the agreement on economic and technological cooperation and the exchange of notes on the Chinese government offering special preferential tariff treatment to the Malawian government. Prior to the talks, President Hu Jintao held a welcoming ceremony for President Mutharika's visit at the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Zhou Tienong, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Abdul'ahat Abdulrixit, Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association Ma Peihua, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Chairman of the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) Zhang Ping and Minister of Commerce Chen Deming attended the welcoming ceremony.