Newly elected president of the Eurogroup Mario Centeno shakes hands with outgoing Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem during a news conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec 4, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

BRUSSELS - The Eurogroup meeting on Monday elected Portuguese finance minister Mario Centeno as president of the Eurogroup.

The new president will take office as of Jan 13, 2018 and will serve a two and a half year term.

He is the first minister from a southern eurozone economy to hold the elected role and first Eurogroup meeting under the presidency of Mario Centeno will take place on Jan 22, 2018.

Mario Centeno has been the finance minister of Portugal since November 2015.