Senior diplomat Donald Armin Blome took oath as new US ambassador to Pakistan, a senior State Department official said on Thursday.

“Honored to swear in Ambassador Donald A Blome as the US Ambassador to Pakistan. Ambassador Blome is a stellar choice to build upon 75 years of US-Pakistan relations,” Deputy US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman wrote on her official Twitter handle.

https://twitter.com/DeputySecState/status/1527032386155909120

She also thanked the US Senate “for his confirmation to this important post”. The US Senate approved Ambassador Blome, a career diplomat, as envoy to Islamabad in March. He is expected to arrive in Islamabad on May 23 to take charge of his new position.

According to a statement, the US State Department said that the partnership with Pakistan was a key to progress on regional security, trade, investment, the climate crisis, and human rights. Blome will be the first full-time ambassador to Pakistan since August 2018 when American envoy David Hale returned home after completing his term. Former US president Donald Trump’s administration did not appoint a full-time envoy to Islamabad.

The development comes at a time when Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in the US in connection with ‘The Global Food Security Call to Action meeting. On the sidelines of this moot, Bilawal met key US figures including Secretary of State-US Secretary of State Antony Blinkeny. The duo deliberated upon matters of mutual interest. Bilawal Bhutto laid stress on the importance of multilateralism and Islamabad‘s foreign policy.

Earlier in the day, he met Congressman Ami Bera, chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Asia and the Pacific, and said Pakistan and the US have a mutual desire to further strengthen their partnership and promote frequent exchanges between the lawmakers of the two countries.

The foreign minister said that sustained engagement with the US Congress was essential for giving support to Pakistan-US ties, which had stood the test of time. Congressman Ami Bera appreciated the foreign minister’s proactive outreach to enhance Pakistan-US relations and thanked Pakistan for facilitating evacuations from Afghanistan.