More foreign leaders congratulate Xi on election as Chinese president

BEIJING, March 15 (Xinhua) -- More foreign leaders sent congratulatory messages Friday to Xi Jinping on his election as the new Chinese president.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the leaders who offered congratulations Friday included Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; South African President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma; President of the Council of State of Cuba and President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba Raul Castro; Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni; Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev; Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov; Myanmar President U Thein Sein; Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev; Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon; Uzbek President Islam Karimov; Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah; Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse; Nepalese President Ram Baran Yadav; East Timor President Taur Matan Ruak; Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko; Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete; President of the Central African Republic Francois Bozize; Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno; and Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine Madi.

The leaders who sent congratulatory messages Friday also included Cote d'Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara; Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh; Guinean President Alpha Conde; Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Malawian President Joyce Hilda Banda; Senegalese President Macky Sall; Argentine President Cristina Fernandez; Peruvian President Ollanta Humala; Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Palestinian President and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization Mahmud Abbas; Belgian King Albert II; Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan; Austrian President Heinz Fischer; German President Joachim Gauck; Italian President Giorgio Napolitano; Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite; Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov; Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti; Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski; Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva; Slovenian President Borut Pahor; European Council President Herman van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso; Bahamas Governor-General Arthur A. Foulkes; Venezuela's Acting President Nicolas Maduro; Chairman of Nepal's Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi; Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit; Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell; Tonga Prime Minister Siale'ataonga Tu'ivakano; South African National Assembly Speaker Max Sisulu; and Chairman of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov.

In addition, Comoros President Ikililou Dhoinine Madi and Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit extended congratulations to Xi on his election as chairman of China's Central Military Commission.

Xi, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was elected state president and chairman of China's Central Military Commission Thursday at the plenary meeting of the first session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC).

Foreign leaders also sent congratulatory messages to Li Keqiang on his endorsement as Chinese premier, Zhang Dejiang as chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, Yu Zhengsheng as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and Li Yuanchao as China's vice president.

Li Keqiang was endorsed as Chinese premier earlier in the day at the ongoing 12th NPC session.

Zhang was elected chairman of the 12th NPC Standing Committee Thursday at the NPC plenary meeting.

Yu was elected chairman of the CPPCC, the top political advisory body, on Monday at the fourth plenary meeting of the first session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee.

Li Yuanchao was elected vice president of China Thursday at the NPC plenary meeting.