Obama thanks Manmohan, vows to continue close ties

US President Barack Obama thanked Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his congratulatory message and express his desire to continue close cooperation moving ahead.

"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," said a White House readout of the president's phone calls with world leaders Thursday.

"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.

"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," it said.

In his congratulatory message to Obama, Manmohan Singh Wednesday personally committed to a "rewarding" association to build further on the global strategic partnership that the two nations have built over the last four years.

The mandate for Obama to lead the US for four more years gave him a historic opportunity to continue to work for both the American people and for global peace and progress at "an admittedly difficult juncture" for the US and the world at large, he said.