New Montenegrin president appoints prime minister

Newly-installed Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic on Monday proposed the current minister of the interior Filip Vujanovic as prime minister, the independent Montenegrin news agency Montena-fax reported.

After last March's rift in the former ruling party, the Democratic Party of Socialists, Vujanovic sided with Djukanovic, and during the dispute between the party's two opposing factions he was "one of the most trusted people in Djukanovic's headquarters", the agency said.

Vujanovic said he saw his appointment as a "great honour", adding that the composition of the new government would be announced at the beginning of February.

"I have accepted the proposal by Milo Djukanovic, the president of Montenegro, to appoint me to the post of prime minister designate as great honour and responsibility," Vujanovic said.

"The fact that I have received preliminary approval from the majority of the parties represented in parliament is very important.

This will allow me to abide by the conclusion of the parliament of Montenegro to have a multiparty government."

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.