By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken Friday telephoned Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and felicitated him on assuming the office.
“Received call from (Secretary Blinken). (I am) grateful for warm felicitations on my assumption of office,” Bilawal Bhutto said on Twitter.
He said during their telephonic conversation, they exchanged views on strengthening mutually beneficial, broadbased relationship as well as the promotion of peace, development and security.
Both the sides agreed that engagement with mutual respect was the way forward, the foreign minister added.
Thirty-three-year-old Bilawal was first elected to the National Assembly in 2018. This is the first time he will be serving as a member of a federal cabinet. Mr Bilawal is the 12th foreign minister of the country.
Three days after his mother’s assassination in December 2007, he had taken over the reins of the PPP. Despite being suddenly pushed to the top political echelons, he initially kept a low profile, focusing instead on finishing his history degree at Oxford University. He returned to Pakistan in 2010, and has since then taken on an increasingly active role as the PPP chairman Bilawal’s grandfather, former premier and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had served as the foreign minister from 1963 to 1966. ZAB had also served as president of the country from 1971 to 1973 and as prime minister from 1973 to 1977.
