More foreign leaders congratulate Li's endorsement

BEIJING - More foreign leaders have sent congratulations to Li Keqiang on his endorsement as Chinese premier at an annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing in mid-March.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, congratulatory messages received by Friday included those from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, Guinean Prime Minister Mohamed Said Fofana, Namibian Prime Minister Hage Geingob, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, and Singaporean Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong.

Li was endorsed as Chinese premier on March 15 at the 12th NPC annual session.

By Friday, leaders offering congratulation to Zhang Dejiang on becoming chairman of the NPC Standing Committee on March 14 included Brazilian Senate President Renan Calheiros, Singaporean Parliament Speaker Halimah Binte Yacob, Lebanese National Assembly President Nabih Berri, National Assembly President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Aubin Minaku, Somali Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, President of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies Julian Dominguez, Trinidad and Tobago's Speaker of House of Representatives Wade Mark and President of Senate Timothy Hamel-Smith, Speaker of French National Assembly Claude Bartolone, Albanian Assembly Speaker Jozefina Topalli, Rotating President of Bosnia-Herzegovina's House of Representatives Mariofil Ljubic, Estonian Parliament Speaker Ene Ergma, Czech Senate Speaker Milan Stech, Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Takahiro Yokomichi and Philippine House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte.

Also by Friday, leaders offering congratulation to Yu Zhengsheng on his election as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on March 11 included President of the Brazilian Senate Renan Calheiros, Singaporean Parliament Speaker Halimah Binte Yacob, Namibian National Council Chairman Asser Kapere, Albanian Assembly Speaker Jozefina Topalli, President of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies Julian Dominguez, Czech Senate Speaker Milan Stech, Polish Senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz, and Speaker of Philippine House of Representatives Feliciano Belmonte.