Skopje will on December 1 2008 notify the United Nations mediator in the name dispute with Greece, Matthew Nimetz, that it has appointed its ambassador to the United States, Zoran Jolevski, as the new chief negotiator in the dispute.

Skopje and Athens are locked in a prolonged dispute over the use of the name "Macedonia". Greece objects to the former Yugoslav republic using the name, saying that it is historically inappropriate and implies territorial claims on northern Greece.

Efforts to mediate the dispute have proved fruitless, with Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski taking a hard-line approach and attempting to introduce other issues into the dispute, while Greece has blocked Macedonia's Nato aspirations and says that it will do the same with its EU hopes unless the dispute is resolved.

Jolevski replaces Nikola Dimitrov, fired in November 2008 by Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski.  Dimitrov and the head of Gruevski's office, Martin Protuger, are to remain part of the negotiating team.

Macedonian media reports said that Gruevski had telephoned Crvenkovski on November 29 to inform him of the proposal for Jolevski to succeed Dimitrov.

According to the website of the Macedonian embassy in Washington, Jolevski (49) has a doctorate in international economy, a master's in law and a bachelor's in economics from the SS Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, and did six months' postgraduate studies at the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, Netherlands, on the trade policy of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT).

His CV says that he speaks English, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian and some French.

Apart from various government posts including serving as secretary at Macedonia's mission at the World Trade Organisation and the UN office in Geneva, he has had various roles in negotiations, including as Secretary to the delegation of Macedonia to the International Conference on Succession of the Former Yugoslavia (1992-1994), deputy negotiator and chief adviser to the government of Macedonia for accession to the WTO (1999-2004), chief negotiator on reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Macedonia and the Peoples Republic of China (2000-2001), and he was a member of the negotiation team for the Ohrid Framework Agreement and representative of the President of Macedonia to the session of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia for the constitutional changes required by the Ohird Framework Agreement (September 2001)

He was an adviser to presidential candidate Boris Trajkovski in the elections in Macedonia in 1999, was economic and foreign policy advisor to Gruevski,  and special adviser to Macedonian foreign minister Antonio Milososki.

Meanwhile, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said that despite all efforts, a solution to the Macedonia "name" row with Greece would not come soon, Balkan Insight reported on November 29.

Rice reiterated that the United States was working on facilitating a compromise but admitted that this is far from happening with the way things stand at the moment.

"It is our great hope that this name issue can be resolved. I keep saying quickly - it's obviously not going to be resolved quickly," Rice said at a press conference.

The State Secretary noted that Macedonia's admission into Nato - which was effectively blocked by Greece in April - would be of interest to all.

"It is important that both sides recognise that whatever happens on the name issue, the real benefit here is of the incorporation of Macedonia into Nato - it will benefit Nato, it will benefit Macedonia, it will benefit Greece, it will benefit the Balkans," Rice said.