ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has congratulated Yoshihide Suga for being elected as the new Prime Minister of Japan.

In his tweet, Imran Khan said he looks forward to working with his Japanese counterpart to further strengthen friendship and cooperation between both the countries.

Japan’s Yoshihide Suga was voted prime minister by parliament’s lower house on Wednesday, becoming the country’s first new leader in nearly eight years, as he readied a “continuity cabinet” expected to keep about half of predecessor Shinzo Abe’s lineup.

Suga, 71, Abe’s longtime right-hand man, has pledged to pursue many of Abe’s programmes, including his signature “Abenomics” economic strategy, and to forge ahead with structural reforms, including deregulation and streamlining bureaucracy.

Abe, Japan’s longest-serving premier, resigned because of ill health after nearly eight years in office. Suga served under him in the pivotal post of chief cabinet secretary.