More foreign leaders congratulate Li on becoming Chinese premier

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhua) -- More foreign leaders have sent congratulations to Li Keqiang on his endorsement as Chinese premier.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, messages received Friday included those from Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, Benin Prime Minister Pascal Irenee Koukpaki, Chadian Prime Minister Djimrangar Dadnadji Joseph, Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane, Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Vanuatuan Prime Minister Sato Kilman, Bhutan Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Hungary's Deputy Prime Minister and Administration and Justice Minister Navracsics Tibor, Germany's left-wing Die Linke party leaders Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger and its parliamentary group leader Gregor Gysi, Germany's CDU/CSU parliamentary group leader Volker Kauder, and Lebanese Progressive Socialists Party Chairman Walid Jumblatt.

Li was endorsed as Chinese premier on March 15 at the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) annual session.

Also on Friday, President of the Cambodian National Assembly Heng Samrin, Chairman of Mazhilis (Lower House) of the Kazakh parliament Nurlan Nigmatulin, Georgia's parliament speaker David Usupashvili, President of Togo's National Assembly Abass Bonfoh, Burundian National Assembly Speaker Pie Ntavyohanyuma, Chilean Senate President Camilo Escalona, President of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies Nicolas Monckeberg, Speaker of the Jamaican House of Representatives Michael Peart, President of the Romanian Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Zgonea, Greece's parliament speaker Vangelis Meimarakis, and Montenegro's parliament speaker Ranko Krivokapic, congratulated Zhang Dejiang on becoming chairman of the NPC Standing Committee on March 14.

Chairman of Mazhilis (Lower House) of the Kazakh parliament Nurlan Nigmatulin, Georgia's parliament speaker David Usupashvili, President of Togo's National Assembly Abass Bonfoh, Jamaican Senate President Stanley Redwood, and Greece's parliament speaker Vangelis Meimarakis congratulated Yu Zhengsheng on Friday on his election as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on March 11.