The Macedonian parliament on Monday approved the nomination of new prime minister Hari Kostov and the formation of a new cabinet.

Kostov -- the only candidate for the premiership from the party winning most votes in the country's recent election, the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia -- was authorized by President Branko Crvenkovski on May 21 to form the new government.

As in the last government, the new government will consist of a coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Union for Integration,and will comprise 14 ministries.

All ministers in the previous government retain their posts except Kostov, whose post of Minister of the Interior in the last government will be taken by Salan Avramovski, former chief of the Ministry's department of security and anti-intelligence.

Kostov was born on Nov. 13, 1959 of Macedonian nationality. He graduated from the University of Skopje and in 1983-1995 worked as a governmental expert, economic adviser and vice finance minister. In 1995-2002 Kostov worked as an assistant for the executive director of the World Bank and as general manager of the AD Commercial Bank in Skopje. In 2002 he became the Macedonian Minister of Interior.

Source: Xinhua