ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday phoned his Malaysian counterpart Mahathir Mohamad and expressed his desire to learn from each other’s experiences in different fields.

The prime minister invited Mr Mahathir to visit Pakistan and Mr Mahathir reciprocally invited Mr Khan to his country that the latter accepted.

Mr Khan conveyed the immense respect of the people of Pakistan and his own for Mr Mahathir as a statesman and global leader. He also extended heartfelt felicitations to the Malaysian prime minister on the victory of Pakatan Harapan — a political coalition led by Mr Mahathir — in the general elections and appreciated his vision for Malaysia’s steady economic progress.

The Malaysian prime minister reciprocated the sentiments and congratulated him on Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) victory in the general elections.

Mr Khan highlighted the need for high-level exchanges between the two countries as well as collaboration at operational level to benefit from each other’s expertise.

As the PTI chief had often expressed his respect for Mr Mahathir in the past and called him his ideal leader because he turned Malaysia into a developed country, it is expected that bilateral ties would strengthen further in coming years.

Mr Mahathir had visited Pakistan in 2006 to attend a conference on Mr Khan’s invitation at a time when the PTI was not considered a mainstream political party.

The Malaysian prime minister is among the world leaders who had congratulated Mr Khan for winning the elections and extended good wishes to him and his government. In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Mahathir had said he looked forward to working closely with him in the spirit of genuine solidarity and for the unity of the Ummah.

“On behalf of the government and people of Malaysia, I have the honour to extend my warmest congratulations on your appointment as the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

“Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration. I am most heartened by your impressive victory in the general elections,” he said in the letter, a copy of which was made available to the media.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018