Brigadier General Goranco Koteski, who has served as commander of the Joint Operations Command, is the newly-appointed Chief of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army (ARM).

The decrees on his appointment as head of the army, as well as promotion into general major, were signed in Ohrid on Tuesday by President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Gjorge Ivanov.

Koteski, 46, replaces Lieutenant General Miroslav Stojanovski, who leaves the post as his term is completed. He is the only active general who meets the NATO standards, speaks English and German.

The new chief of staff has graduated from the NATO Defense College in Rome and has served as a military attache in Germany. Kotevski served as an adjutant of President Ivanov. On March 2011 he was appointed commander of the ARM's Joint Operations Command.

After signing the decree, President Ivanov expressed his hopes that Gen. Koteski will resume ARM's reforms in an attempt the army to be established as a modern and effective force and guarantee of peace and stability.

Earlier, he thanked Lieutenant General Stojanovski for his professional engagement in executing his responsible post in the army.

The formal appointment to the post chief of ARM staff will take place on the ARM Day, Aug. 18, President's cabinet said in a press release.