Serbia's  President Boris Tadic has named outgoing finance minister Mirko Cvetkovic for the country's new prime minister, a statement from President’s cabinet says.

Cvetkovic, a member of Tadic's Democrats, is a low-profile technocrat who is likely to concentrate on Serbia's economy rather than foreign and domestic politics, as Kostunica did.

Mirko Cvetković was born in Zajecar, Serbia, in 1950. He graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Economics where he also received his MA and PhD.

He started his career at the Mining Institute, where he worked for ten years. He then moved on to the Economics Institute for another six years, followed by seven years as a consultant at the CES MECON consultancy.

Between 1998 and 2001 he was advisor on economic issues at the Mining Institute, and in January 2001 he became Deputy Minister of Economy and Privatization.

From 2003 to 2004 he was Director of the Privatization Agency and afterwards headed Intercon consulting agency.

In the 1980s he was exterior consultant for the World Bank on a number of projects in Pakistan, India and Turkey, and worked on the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Somalia.

Married, a father of two. Speaks English.