Thousands of Kosovans have given a warm welcome to US Vice-President Joe Biden, a man they credit with helping Kosovo gain independence last year, BBC reported.
Schoolchildren waved US flags and posters lined the route his car took from Pristina airport after he arrived.
It was in contrast to his previous stop, Serbia, where police lined the streets amid nationalist anger.
Mr Biden is due to address Kosovo's parliament and to receive its highest honour - the Golden Medal of Freedom.
The vice-president's visit to Kosovo is the first by a senior US official since Kosovo unilaterally declared independence in February 2008.
The US and more than 50 other countries have since recognised Kosovo's independence, but more than 100 have not, including Serbia and Russia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic told Mr Biden on Tuesday that his country would never give up its claim to Kosovo.
But despite that outstanding issue, and the antipathy of many Serbs to the country that led a Nato bombing campaign to expel Serb forces from Kosovo in 1999, Mr Biden and the pro-Western Mr Tadic exchanged warm words.
Mr Biden said: "The United States does not, I emphasise, does not expect Serbia to recognise the independence of Kosovo.
"It is not a precondition for our relationship or our support for Serbia becoming part of the European Union," he said.
Mr Tadic said Serbia and the US could move their relationship forward "on the basis of dialogue rooted in mutual respect".
The rare visit by a top US official marks a new effort by President Barack Obama to re-engage with the Balkans, BBC Eastern Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe says.
As well as Serbia and Kosovo, he has also visited Bosnia.
But he has not been welcomed everywhere. In Serbia's parliament MPs from the hardline nationalist Radical Party held up banners in parliament saying: "Biden, you Nazi scum, go home."
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