President's next destination: Kosovo

                  November 22, 1999
                  Web posted at: 2:19 p.m. EST (1919 GMT)
 

                  In this story:

                  Economic aid for region
                  A message to Kosovo
 

                  SOFIA, Bulgaria (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton, opening the
                  first-ever visit to this former communist nation by an American head of state,
                  on Monday praised Bulgaria for its commitment to democracy and progress
                  in economic reform.

                  "We are committed to supporting Bulgaria over
                  the long run -- economically, politically,
                  militarily," Clinton said during a photo session
                  with President Petar Stoyanov. "And I think
                  we will be doing it for many years."

                  Bulgaria, which aspires to join NATO,
                  supported the alliance's air war over Kosovo
                  by permitting U.S. and allied warplanes to fly over its territory. It also is
                  supporting U.N. economic sanctions against Yugoslavia, a policy that has
                  carried a heavy cost to the already weak Bulgarian economy.

                  Clinton, who is to visit Kosovo on Tuesday, called Bulgaria a good example
                  of how a Balkan nation can build a democracy without the ethnic strife that
                  has torn Yugoslavia apart.

                                               Economic aid for region

                                               Clinton is expected to announce in
                                               Sofia that the Overseas Private
                                               Investment Corporation is creating a
                                               new Southeast Europe Investment
                                               Fund to make direct investments in
                                               regional businesses. The U.S.
                                               government provides about $30
                                               million a year in development
                                               assistance to Bulgaria.

                  At Nevsky Square, Clinton is scheduled to speak to the people of Bulgaria.
                  He will urge them to continue building democracy and a market economy
                  and to thank them for their support of NATO's air campaign in neighboring
                  Yugoslavia.

                  Bulgaria's first fully democratic parliamentary elections were held in
                  November 1991. Since 1996, the country has enjoyed a relatively stable
                  economy.

                  After World War II, in which it allied itself with Nazi Germany, Bulgaria
                  turned to communism and became one of the Soviet Union's closest allies,
                  although it did not have Soviet troops stationed on its territory.

                  After arriving in Sofia on Sunday evening, Clinton and daughter Chelsea
                  spent two hours at the Czar Ivan Assen II National Rotisserie restaurant.
                  Four young women in traditional Bulgarian costume sang several Bulgarian
                  folk songs for the presidential party and a hickory fire warmed the room.

                  A message to Kosovo

                  Clinton is nearing the end of a
                  10-day European tour designed in
                  part to promote democracy and
                  ethnic tolerance in the Balkans.

                  The president said that when he visits
                  Kosovo on Tuesday, he will urge
                  ethnic Albanians and Serbs to set
                  aside ethnic hatred and get along
                  with one another.

                  "I will deliver a very strong statement that everybody should get over this
                  ethnic hatred and get beyond it and get along," he declared.

                  "It's important that Kosovo in effect not become the mirror image of Serbia,"
                  he said.

                  Violence against the minority Serb population exploded when ethnic
                  Albanians finally were able to return to their homes after being expelled by
                  Serb military and paramilitary earlier this year.

                  Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had traveled with the president on earlier stops
                  in Turkey, Greece and Italy, flew back to Washington on Sunday night.

                     Correspondent Chris Black and The Associated Press contributed to this report.