China congratulates Nepal's new PM Koirala

China Tuesday congratulated Nepal's newly-elected Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.

"The Chinese side congratulates Sushil Koirala on being elected as Nepal's new prime minister, and (Chinese) Premier Li Keqiang has sent a congratulatory message to Prime Minister Koirala," Xinhua quoted Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying at a daily news briefing.

Hua said China and Nepal were friendly neighbours and that the Chinese side attached great importance to the development of an all-round cooperative partnership with Nepal.

"The Chinese side stands ready to make joint efforts with the Nepali side to strengthen traditional friendship and deepen reciprocal cooperation to step up the bilateral relationship in a sustained way," said the spokeswoman.

Koirala, president of the Nepali Congress (NC), the largest party in the country's Constituent Assembly, was elected prime minister Monday, nearly three months after the national elections in November last year.