More foreign leaders congratulate Xi on election as Chinese president

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- More foreign leaders sent congratulatory messages Monday to Xi Jinping on his election as the new Chinese president.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, leaders offering congratulations to Xi on Monday included King Letsie III of Lesotho, Togolese President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, President of the Commonwealth of Dominica Eliud Williams, Irish President Michael Higgins, Speaker of the Lower House of Irish Parliament Sean Barrett, Secretary-General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Vice President of the French Senate and former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, and President of the Democratic Party of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica.

Xi, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was elected state president and chairman of China's Central Military Commission on March 14 at the first session of the 12th National People's Congress.

Also on Monday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Romanian Prime Minister Victor-Viorel Ponta, and Vice President of the French Senate and former Prime Minister Raffarin congratulated Li Keqiang on his endorsement as Chinese premier on March 15 at the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) annual session.

Chairwoman of the Lao National Assembly Pany Yathotou, President of the Jordanian Senate Taher Nashat al-Masri, Speaker of the Israeli Knesset(parliament) Yuli Edelstein, Speaker of the Lower House of Irish Parliament Barrett, and President of the National Assembly of Slovenia Janko Veber also congratulated Zhang Dejiang on his election as chairman of the NPC Standing Committee on March 14.

President of Jordanian Senate al-Masri, Speaker of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Edelstein, and Speaker of the Lower House of Irish Parliament Barrett also congratulated Yu Zhengsheng on his election as chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on March 11.

Meanwhile, Slovenian President Borut Pahor and Indian Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari congratulated Li Yuanchao on becoming China's vice president on March 14 at the NPC session.

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