PM Modi congratulates Yoshihide Suga on his appointment as Japan's new PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Yoshihide Suga on being elected as the new prime minister of Japan and said he looks forward to jointly taking New Delhi and Tokyo Special Strategic and Global Partnership to "new heights".

"Heartiest congratulations to Excellency Yoshihide Suga on the appointment as Prime Minister of Japan @kantei. I look forward to jointly taking our Special Strategic and Global Partnership to new heights," PM Modi tweeted in Japanese and English.

Suga, the new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, was elected Japan's prime minister by the powerful House of Representatives on Wednesday.

He has replaced former prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had resigned last month due to ulcerative colitis, a chronic disease which earlier forced him to resign from the post of the premiership in 2007.

The 71-year-old farmer's son, Suga, who unlike Abe and many other lawmakers in Japan is not the scion of a political dynasty, has hinted at the possibility of additional steps to shore up the economy, Kyodo News reported.

Suga will be the oldest prime minister to take office since Kiichi Miyazawa in 1991.

( With inputs from ANI )