Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter addressed to his newly elected Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, congratulated him on taking office and expressed India's willingness to establish a dialogue and good neighborly ties between the two countries.
NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th August, 2018) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a letter addressed to his newly elected Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan, congratulated him on taking office and expressed India's willingness to establish a dialogue and good neighborly ties between the two countries.
"We have a commitment to build good neighbourly relations... [And] pursue meaningful and constructive engagement for the benefit of people in the region," Modi's letter was quoted as saying by the Times Now newspaper on Monday.
Khan, who leads Pakistan's ruling Tehreek-e-Insafh party, was elected prime minister on Friday following a vote in the National Assembly, where he gained the support of 176 lawmakers out of a total of 272. Khan received almost twice as many votes as those cast for his main rival, Shehbaz Sharif, the president of the center-right Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party.
One of Khan's foreign policy priorities include the establishment of a dialogue between Pakistan and India, whose bilateral relations have been tense and hostile for over seven decades, in particular over the disputed Kashmir region.
On Saturday, Khan was sworn in as Pakistan's 22nd prime minister and went on to appoint his cabinet of ministers, which took the oath of office earlier on Monday.
