More foreign leaders sent congratulatory messages Saturday to Li Keqiang on his election as the new Chinese premier.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the leaders who have offered congratulations included Turkmenistan's president Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov; Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir; Maldivian President Mohammed Waheed Hassan; Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev; Pakistani Premier Raja Pervez Ashraf; Cambodian Premier Hun Sen; Kazakh Prime Minister Serik Akhmetov; Kyrgyzstan's Prime Minister Jantoro Satybaldiyev; and Tajik Prime Minister Akil Akilov.

The leaders who have sent congratulatory messages Friday also included Nigerien Prime Minister Brigi Rafini; Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Belorussian Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich; Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov; Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong; Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan; Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell; Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo; Macedonian Prime Minister Nicola Gruevski; Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi; Chairman of Nepal's Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi; Moldovan Prime Minister Vlad Filat; Guinea-Bissau's Prime Minister Rui Duarte Barros; and South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won.

Li was endorsed as Chinese premier on Friday at the ongoing 12th NPC session.

Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the nomination of Li, by newly-elected President Xi Jinping, as the candidate for premier at the legislative session.