China had extended its congratulations on the swearing-in of Nepal's new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said Tuesday.

Ma said Premier Wen Jiabao had sent a congratulatory message to Nepal.

China attached great importance to the Sino-Nepali relationship and would work with Nepal to advance the friendly partnership, which had passed from generation to generation, Ma said.

Madhav Kumar Nepal, senior leader of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) was sworn in as the second elected prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2009)