TIRANA, Albania (AP) – President Bush, leaving behind thousands of anti-Bush protesters in Rome, got a hero’s welcome here Sunday as he became the first American president to visit this tiny impoverished nation.

The hills overlooking the capital boomed as military cannons fired a 21-gun salute heralding Mr. Bush’s arrival. Thousands of people gathered in the downtown square on a brilliantly sunny day to see the president and first lady Laura Bush.

Huge banners proclaimed “Proud to be Partners,” and billboards read “President Bush in Albania Making History.” Red-white-and-blue paper top hats with stars on top were passed out to well-wishers in this Balkan nation. Albania has such an affinity for America that it issued three postage stamps with Mr. Bush’s picture and the statue of liberty.

Mr. Bush said he wants to encourage Albania’s free society, but it also makes good political sense on the world stage for him to stop in Albania, if only for about seven hours, and be seen receiving a robust greeting in the predominantly Muslim country.

“I want to make sure the Albanian people understand that America knows that you exist and that you’re making difficult choices to cement your free society,” Mr. Bush said in a pre-trip interview. “I’m coming as a lover of liberty to a land where people are realizing the benefits of liberty.”

Mr. Bush was to meet with Albania’s President Moisui and Prime Minister Berisha and greet troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was to have lunch with the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, which hope to join NATO next year.

Albania desperately wants membership in NATO and the European Union, but even though it has soldiers in both Iraq and Afghanistan and wholeheartedly backs Washington, Bush has not been that upbeat about its chances.
>[?Russia has opposed successive enlargements of NATO into eastern Europe. The likely NATO expansion into the Balkans does not please Russia, but the Kremlin is much more concerned about the prospect that its neighbors Ukraine and Georgia may also be brought into the Western alliance.

“There’s a certain map that has to be followed, a certain way forward, there are certain obligations that have to be met,” Mr. Bush said. “My only advice is: work as hard as you possibly can to achieve the different benchmarks that would cause the NATO members to accept Albania.”

Albania also doesn’t seem likely to gain entry into the EU any time soon.

The EU admitted Balkan neighbors Romania and Bulgaria in January. But the EU seems likely to stop there for now, unwilling to take in more poor countries, such as Turkey, Ukraine or Albania, that will cost the wealthier member states billions of dollars in subsidies to bring their economies up to Western standards.

Many Albanians hope Mr. Bush’s visit will give a boost to the ethnic Albania majority in neighboring Kosovo, which is pushing for independence from Serbia.

America and key European countries are trying to narrow differences with Russia over the future of Kosovo, which has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 war between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The U.N. Security Council has been divided over the issue; the United States and key European countries support Kosovo’s independence, and Russia, traditionally a Serbian ally, opposes it.

Ethnic Albanians, who say they are descendants of Kosovo’s first inhabitants, want Kosovo to become an independent state. Serbs have offered it broad autonomy, but want the province to remain part of Serbian territory.

Mr. Bush, in a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Prodi on Saturday, said he understands there are deep concerns about the plan for Kosovo.

“Kosovars are eagerly anticipating a decision by the world. And at the same time – Romano is right – we need to make sure the Serbs see a way forward,” Mr. Bush said.

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Associated Press Writer Llazar Semini in Tirana contributed to this report.