Kathmandu, March 28 Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday extended congratulations to Nepal's newly-appointed Prime Minister Balendra Shah 'Balen', expressing his commitment to strengthen bilateral cooperation and collaboration between the two countries.
The 35-year-old leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was sworn in by President Ram Chandra Paudel at a ceremony at the President's Office on Friday.
In his congratulatory message, the Chinese leader said, "China and Nepal are traditional friendly nations bound together by mountains and rivers.”
Bilateral relations between the two countries are based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, he said, recalling the 71st year of establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Nepal.
The government of China will extend its cooperation in the efforts of the Nepal government towards establishing good governance in the country, he said.
He also expressed China's support for Nepal's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.
Li underscored the need to expand high-level cooperation between the two countries in different sectors to take forward the Belt and Road initiatives of China.
He also reiterated that China-Nepal friendly strategic partnership should be further strengthened for attaining development and prosperity.
Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended congratulations to newly-appointed Nepal Minister for Foreign Affairs Shisir Khanal.
Wang, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, said, "China and Nepal are traditional friendly neighbours. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1955, the two countries have stood together through thick and thin, sharing weal and woe, and have continuously developed bilateral relations based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence."
He also expressed China’s readiness to work closely with Khanal to jointly implement the important consensus reached between the two sides, and to advance the China-Nepal strategic partnership of cooperation, according to Foreign Ministry sources.