New US ambassador Donald Blome submits credentials to Pakistan president

Islamabad: US Ambassador to Pakistan, Donald A Blome, who was confirmed in March and later sworn in by the US State Department in May for the new assignment as the envoy designate to Pakistan, has presented his credentials to President Dr Arif Alvi, and formally took charge of the US mission.

Presenting credentials to the head of the state is a ceremonial formality and usually doesn’t take long. But Ambassador Donald Blome had to wait for more than a month as President Alvi was not available for the official ceremony.

President House sources said the day was decided as per convenience and according to mutual understanding.

A day is fixed for presenting of credentials and usually, more than one representative of countries present their credentials, therefore the ceremony is delayed, they said.

The official Twitter handle of the President of Pakistan uploaded a picture of various ambassadors, including the US envoy, presenting their credentials to the President.

Besides the US envoy, Australian Ambassador, EU Head of Mission, ambassadors of Turkey, Sudan and Bhutan also presented their credentials to the President of Pakistan.

Fulltime US ambassador in 4 years

In the last four years, the US mission in Pakistan was overseen by the Charge d’Affaires and Donald Blome’s predecessor David Hale who left Islamabad in August 2018. Since then there was no fulltime ambassador of the United States in Pakistan.

Immediately after presenting his credentials to President Alvi, Ambassador Blome formally began his diplomatic assignment by holding a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Pakistan seeks deeper ties with US

Shehbaz welcomed the ambassador in Pakistan and congratulated him on presenting his credentials. He expressed the hope the new US ambassador would devote his efforts to deepening and enhancing bilateral ties between the US and Pakistan.

In this context, the prime minister highlighted the historic, longstanding ties between the two countries and underscored Pakistan’s desire to further develop this relationship on the basis of mutual respect, trust, and interest.

“Recalling the depth and breadth of Pakistan-US relationship, the prime minister underscored that various dialogues established between Pakistan and the US have been playing a critical role in strengthening our bilateral ties in the areas of trade, investment, IT, climate change, health, and energy,” said an official statement.