Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza arrived in Beijing on Friday for the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

The two-day summit, the largest international leader gathering in China since 1949, is scheduled to commence on Nov. 4.

Before coming to the Chinese capital, the Burundian president had visited the economically booming province of Guangdong in south China and the rather underdeveloped province of Guizhou in the southwest.

China and Burundi restored diplomatic relations on Oct. 13, 1971. Antoinette Batumubwira, Burundian minister of external relations and cooperation, visited China in 2005. Bilateral trade hit 12.22 million U.S. dollars in 2005.