He insisted that building infrastructure was vital to the country's development with its poor roads and other facilities wiping an estimated 3 percent off the country's GDP.

"If you have resources but don't have the infrastructure to exploit those resources then they are useless. You can't move your products if you don't have good roads, and if you don't have bridges a lot of the country is inaccessible. You need to expand power production in order to be able to feed industries and our energy demand is estimated to grow by anything between 7 and 10 percent per annum," he said.

"China has a growing economy and needs natural resources and Africa has these natural resources but also needs money for development so it becomes a win-win for them to come together and develop closer cooperation," he said.

Deng Yanting, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the shift in African countries' financial partnerships from the West to emerging powers like China and India will certainly play a significant role in the future world financial system.

"The international financial system is experiencing profound changes and the fact that Africa is seeking more help from emerging powers will give developing countries more voice and common ground in the reform process," he said.

Mahama insisted Africa was changing and could be one of the economic success stories of the 21st century. Ghana itself has benefited from double-digit economic growth in recent years.

"In the past, Africa was only mentioned in any medium of mass communication when there were civil wars, droughts, famines where children were dying. This is the picture painted in people's minds by the media and as a result they don't see what is changing in Africa," he said.

Contact the writers at andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn and zhongnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Li Lianxing contributed to this story in Beijing.