Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said he received a congratulatory telephone call from the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and they discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance czar, who assumed charge as the foreign minister last month, shared the development in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

On call, the foreign minister said he “discussed key bilateral issues and reaffirmed commitment to work together to promote cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, investment, and counter terrorism”.

Dar said he looked forward to continued collaboration between the two countries.

The development comes a week after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan attached high importance to its ties with the United States of America.

The prime minister had passed the remarks in response to a letter from US President Joe Biden in which he pledged to continue supporting Pakistan’s newly-formed government in tackling “the most pressing global and regional challenges of our time.”

“The enduring partnership between our nations remains critical to ensuring the security of our people – and people around the world – and the United States will continue to stand with Pakistan to tackle the most pressing global and regional challenges of our time,” Biden had written in his letter.

Responding to the letter, PM Shehbaz had said that both countries had been working together on various significant initiatives in energy, climate change, agriculture, health and education sectors.

“The cooperation between the two countries on energy sector and Green Alliance framework was welcoming,” PM Shehbaz office’s media wing quoted the prime minister as saying then.