John Kerry, the new US Secretary of state, called up external affairs minister Salman Khurshid — following which  both the leaders discussed ways to take bilateral ties forward.

Kerry thanked Khurshid for his congratulatory letter soon after his confirmation as the secretary of state by the United States Senate.

Khurshid said he was looking forward to working with Kerry to take forward India-US bilateral relationship, which is at a “historically unprecedented high”, to a higher level encompassing diverse sectors, official sources said.

Khurshid said he was eagerly looking forward to Kerry’s visit to India for the third annual India-US Strategic Dialogue scheduled later this year.