President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday sent a message to Pakistan's new Prime Minister Imran Khan, congratulating him on taking the helm in the neighboring country and voicing Tehran’s interest in enhancing ties in the interest of the two peoples.
In his message to Khan, who on Saturday was sworn in as prime minister after his party's victory in last month's election, Rouhani expressed the hope that the new Pakistani leader’s tenure would mark “closer harmony and convergence in the Islamic world and deepening of bonds between the two friendly neighbors,” his official website reported.
“As always and particularly in the new era, the Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its preparedness to promote interaction and cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan,” Rouhani said.
Khan, a known nationalist, won a general election last month promising to fight corruption and drastically reduce poverty among Pakistan’s 208 million mostly-Muslim people. According to Reuters, Khan’s election was only the second democratic transfer of power. If he completes his five-year term he will be the first Pakistani prime minister to do so.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Justice Party, holds 151 of the 342 seats in the national assembly, where a vote was held on Friday to decide who would be asked to form a government.
Khan easily defeated rival Shehbaz Sharif from the outgoing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, garnering 176 votes to Sharif’s 96 votes.
