US President Barack Obama has called more than a dozen key world leaders including the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to thank them on their congratulatory messages on his re-election and assured them of addressing the serious challenges being faced by the world today.
“Since Tuesday evening, the President has been receiving messages from his counterparts around the world congratulating him on winning re-election to a second term in office. The President appreciates all of these messages and looks forward to continuing to work with all of his fellow leaders to address the serious challenges we face together in the world,” the White House said in a statement.
“This morning the President was able to return some of these messages personally, by phone. In each call, he thanked his counterpart for their friendship and partnership thus far and expressed his desire to continue close cooperation moving ahead,” the White House said.
Among the world leaders he spoke to over phone were Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia, President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt, President Francois Hollande of France, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom.
The White House released the names of the world leaders in the alphabetical order of their countries. However, it did not mention to whom Obama made the first telephone call.