UPDATE 1-Bosnia's presidency nominates PM-designate after 13 months

Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency said on Tuesday it has nominated economist Zoran Tegeltija, a Serb, as prime minister-designate, after its Serb, Croat and Bosniak members agreed on how to proceed towards NATO integration 13 months after a vote. Tegeltija was proposed a year ago by Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, who is part of the tripartite presidency, but the Bosniak and Croat members delayed approval over differing views on Bosnia's path into the transatlantic NATO military alliance.

That halted Bosnia's reforms towards integration into the European Union (EU) and also kept an International Monetary Fund (IMF) aid program on hold. While the Bosniak and Croat members want Bosnia to progress towards the U.S.-led alliance which they see as a guarantor of peace in the volatile Balkan country, pro-Russian Dodik wants Bosnia to remain neutral and stay out of NATO.

Since last year, Dodik has opposed sending an annual plan of reforms to NATO, which would trigger its push for membership which has been blocked by Serbs for 10 years. In turn, the other two presidency members declined to endorse his candidate Tegeltija as prime minister-designate.

The breakthrough came at a special session on Tuesday at which they agreed to a changed procedure, authorizing Bosnia's permanent mission at NATO to send a reform plan instead of the presidency, they said in a statement. The reform plan will be sent to NATO headquarters in Brussels a day after parliament's lower house confirms Tegeltija as prime minister, the statement said.

Tegeltija had served as the finance minister of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic. The session followed a meeting with ambassadors of the United States, Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany and the EU in Bosnia.